BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 201 



the lateral prolongations occasionally produced by C. rhizophylhis, 

 and well illustrated in Eaton's Ferns of North America, In C, Sibi- 

 ricus both the auricles and the lateral developments are wanting, 

 and the greatest breadth is still farther irom the base of the blade. 

 The character of the axial bundle is very marked, and should not 

 be disregarded. — J. C. Arthur. 



Explanation of Plate III.— An entire plant of natural size 

 showing four sterile fronds and a small fertile frond. 



A single fertile frond of natural size with a plantlet growing from 

 the apex. 



Portion of the same frond enlarged six diameters, showing the ve- 

 nation and position of the son. 



Cross-section of a fertile stipe magnified thirty-live diameters, and 

 drawn with camera lucida. 



Notes on the Virginia Creeper. 



A number of years ago I communicated to the Academy 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia the fact that every third node 

 had one tendril, and that the leaves opposite the tendrils had no 

 axillary buds. About the time of the publication ot my remarks t 

 twitted in pleasant vein the author of "How jihmlx Behave" with 

 inaccuracy, because the cut at p. 17 had an axillary bud opposite 

 to a tendril. To my amazed discomfiture he replied by sending me 

 a fresh specimen just like his drawing! It was a good lesson to me 

 on the use of "never" by a botanist. I have since seen such case.-. 

 but very seldom. The rule is as I then noted. In the Japan spe- 

 cies, Ampelopsis tricuspidata, (A.. Veitchii of gardens), the rule 

 is the same. Mohr, a German writer on the grape vine notes that 

 there are regular intermissions of tendrils in the grape vine, and 

 Dr. Engelmann since, but 1 believe quite independently, observed 

 the same, and at one time believed the fact might be made of 

 value in the diagnosis of species. Much does not seem to have 

 been made of it however in this direction. In the grape there is 

 not the same constancy in the numerical order as in the Virginia 

 Creeper. In Vitis indivisa I find a tendril at every node. In oth- 

 er species of Vitis and Ampelopsis^, there are irregularities. 



It is worth noting how Ampelopsis quinquefolia varies. In 

 187.1 and '73 I collected it in the vicinity of Pike's Peak with nar- 

 row, laciniate, and somewhat glaucous leaves. Mr. Buckley notes 

 it in Texas as often bearing seven leaflets, where it is his A. hepto- 

 phylla. In Canada I find six leaflets common, with often the rudi- 

 ments of a seventh. In the upper Delaware regions I have often 

 gathered them with but three. In Pennsylvania the chief veins 

 diverge and carve as they approach the margin. At Niagara I 

 found them as nearly parallel and straight as in a horse chestnut. 

 A first glance at one on Goat Island once, as it ran over a tree, 

 gave me a pleasant surprise that 1 was looking at an JEscnlus. 



Some years ago a large Ampelopsis covered a Cerasiis >< retina 



