'330 Proceedings of the Club 



Mr. Lloyd described the structure of the suspensor typical of 

 the genera Galium, Aspcnda, Vaillantia^ etc., and showed that 

 haustoria are formed which absorb food from the endosperm. The 

 large basal cell of CapscUa was shown also to possess a function 

 quite similar, because, as the preparations showed, the basal cell 



r 



destroys the tissue of the inner integument in its vicinity and thus 

 becomes embedded in it. 



The second paper was by Mrs, E. G. Britton, on the Ferns of 

 the Eastern United States, illustrated by the stereopticon. 



Mrs. Britton exhibited mounted specimens of all the rarer 

 ferns of the Eastern States, many of them of her own collection, 

 giving the range of each species. She also exhibited lantern 

 slides made from photographs of these ferns taken as they grow. * 

 Those of the maiden-hair, hart's tongue and beech-fern were 

 taken from the fernery in the New York Botanical Garden ; five of 

 them w^ere views from the Catskill Mountains taken by Mr. Van 



M 



one from Lake George, and M 



Lorenz five from Willoughby Lake, Vermont. Others were Adi- 

 rondack views taken by Stoddard. Mrs. Britton stated that she 

 would continue to fill in the omissions where she had not been able 

 to obtain photographs, and hoped to complete her collection In the 

 future. She expressed the hope that as the interest in ferns in- 

 creases the love of them would likewise grow, and that the rarer 

 ones would not be exterminated by useless transplanting to locations 

 where they will not survive. It was stated that thus far Rutland 

 County, Vermont, shows the greatest number of ferns of any of 

 the Eastern States, having 42 species and ten varieties. There 

 are seldom more than 20 species in any locality, unless there 

 should be a great variety of soil and habitat as at Jamesville, N. 



* 



, Y., where Prof Underwood has found 34 species. Long Island 

 has 25, and Staten Island 23 species. 



In further illustration, the Torrey Club collection of ferns and 

 many sheets from the Columbia collection, w^ere exhibited, and a 

 series of photographs from Professor Atkinson, showing the varia- 

 tions produced by cultivation of Onoclca sciisibilis. 



An exhibit to illustrate Onoclca scnsibilis in the fossil state was 

 .also furnished by Dr. Hollick, the same being of special interest 

 as the only living species w^hich is actually found fossil. 



