6 THE AAIERICAX BOTANIST. 



ferns to fruit, and in its farthest southern haunts begins to 

 grow shortly after the new year begins. In February, 1900, I 

 collected it in fruit near Guava Ridge in the Island of Jamaica 

 at an altitude of about 3,500 feet. The difiference in altitude 

 between this station, which, by the way, is the only one in 

 Jamaica, and the Florida station would equalize the difference 

 in latitude between the two. Thus the fruiting impulse may 

 be said to begin in the West Indies and the Gulf Coast in 

 February, passing over the southern States during March, 

 reaching the northern States late in April and going on into 

 Canada in May. 



The second fruiting season appears rarely, if ever, to reach 

 very far north. Mr. Steele has noted it in Florida, and in a 

 recent publication Mr. A. A. Eaton says (doubtless incor- 

 rectly) that 'Tts common time of fruiting appears to be early 

 November, as it was in full fruit in the middle of the State at 

 that date, and bore no indication of fruit in March, save in 

 the case of one plant." Mr. W. C. Dukes found them fruit- 

 ing about Mobile, Ala., at least three weeks earlier. He, too, 

 found the fruiting general, and says, 'T have run across col- 

 onies where scarcely any failed to develop a fertile frond. In 

 one place I counted over fifty plants fruiting, but noticed that 

 the fronds were not so robust as those found in spring and 

 not as tall. 



As to the cause of the fall fruiting the suggestion made by 

 Mr. Dukes seems to oft'er the best explanation. He observes 

 that the fall fruiting seems to be most prevalent in those years 

 when summer extends far into autumn. The rains that follow 

 form a second spring-like season, beguiling the ferns to fruit. 

 It would be interesting to know just how general the fall 

 fruiting of this species is, and how far it extends northward. 

 Do the ferns fruit every year in autumn? Do the same ferns 

 fruit again in spring? Do all. or nearly all, the ferns fruit in 



