86 THE PLANT WORLD. 



distinct from the European, and in his herbarium there are two speci- 

 mens with the specific name vulgatum, crossed out on the label and 

 oblongifolium siibstituted for it. These specimens are oblanceolate, 

 with a blunt apex and a long narrow tapering base, and this is the 

 commonest form of the species in the New England States. This 

 form does not seem to occur among European specimens and perhaps 

 Nuttall's name should be kept to indicate this variation. 



Another species, somewhat smaller and less variable, is Ophio- 

 glossum Engelvianni^ which grows in the Central States from Indiana 

 to Texas, and though local and not abundant at any one place, has 

 been collected at a large number of stations. It may be readily dis- 

 tinguished by its regularly elliptic frond, with a inucronate apex and 

 large meshes with numerous included veinulets. The root-stocks are 

 slightly thickened, as in O. vulgatum, and often bear several plants 

 on each one. It is reported to grow on sterile and rocky soil at high 

 and dry elevations, and will probably be foimd in the Alleghanies, as 

 it has recently been found at Staunton, Virginia, and at two Mexican 

 localities by C. G. Pringle. It was described by Prantl in 1884, but 

 has not been included in any of our text-books, nor recognized by any 

 of our fern students, though it had twice been distributed as a variety 

 of Ophioglossum vulgatuni, as long ago as 187 1 and 1875. 



A new species, having a very marked gregarious habit, was dis- 

 covered on the third of July last by Mr. Joseph Crawford and Mr. C. L. 

 Pollard, near Holly Beach, New Jersey, growing under oak, holly 

 and cedar trees in open, sandy woods, not far from the beach. It was 

 described and figured as Ophioglossum arenariiim in the December 

 number of the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, and specimens 

 have been distributed by Mr. Pollard to many of the .students of ferns 

 in this country. Most of them agree that it is a distinct species, but 

 Mr. George E. Davenport thinks it is a small form of O. vulgatum. 

 It differs from that species in its smaller size, more rigid erect habit, 

 usually two plants from each root-stock, and in the size and shape of 

 the fronds, which are none of them more than two inches long and 

 less than half an inch wide, lanceolate in shape with a blunt some- 

 what thickened, and cucuUate apex. If water-pores are not known 

 to occur in any species of fern, this would seem to be a similar organ 

 for evaporation, as it terminates the vein and is thick and colorless. 

 The venation also is less distinct in dried specimens than in O. vul- 

 gatum, as the fronds seem to be more fleshy, like all seaside plants, 

 and the basal veins are fewer, forming narrower meshes and smaller 

 areolae toward the margins, and there are few if any free veinulets. 

 The spores also are less distinctly marked and without the pitted ap- 

 pearance, like the surface of a thimble, which characterizes the spores 



