THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



57 



may be the the variety "Ca/nbricum," and if not, they are 

 certainly close to it. I found only these two fronds. They 



seem to be exceedingly rare. 

 Although the sori of 

 Polypodium vulgare are 

 among the largest produced 

 by any fern, yet I found 

 them frequently of extraor- 

 dinary size. Often I found 

 them all destroyed by a 

 small whitish worm, the 

 larva of some bug or fly 

 probably, which feeds on the 

 sori, but leaves the fronds 

 intact. 



Under favorable circum- 

 ^^^- ^- stances this species is a reg- 



ular "tree-fern." I have often seen it growing on moss- 

 covered old trees, quite a distance up, or in the crotches of 

 such old trees, where a little humus and a la3^er of moss 

 had accumulated. It is an evergreen species but it seems 

 that not all fronds go unscathed through the vv-inter. 

 Under the influence of a severe frost the younger fronds 

 curl up sideways with pinnfe inverted and frequently die. 

 Then the pinnae decay, the stipes fall down and next sum- 

 mer out of the decaying dead stems a pretty little fungus 

 arises, long stemmed, about two inches high, with a little 

 yellowish pileus, with white lamella. I do not know its 

 name, but I notice it always growing on the rotten stipes 

 of last year's Polypodium vulgare. 

 Griffins Corners, N. Y. 



THE JEWEL WEEDS. 



BY E. S. GILBERT. 



IN early spring, before all the old snow has gone and only 

 the hardiest plants are beginning to appear — wild 

 leeks, adder-tongues, claytonias and the like — while you 

 see that the grass is greening at least in some places, you 

 may find in damp rich soil along spring runs or near the 



