BOTANICAL GAZETTE. ig6 



slight extent, Aspidtum aculeatum, Swz , var. Braunii. The only one 

 that 1 have found here to remind me in any way of those at home is 

 a new variety of Woodsia Oregana, D. C. Eaton. These species are 

 also peculiar in their dwarf habit. The majority of them never reach 

 a height of one foot, while the extreme height of the two largest spe 

 cies is about two feet. 



The whole number of species which I have found here is four- 

 teen, all having been collected in Grant county. Beginning with 

 Cheilanthes, I find six species, one of them, referring to the segments, 

 smooth, two scaly, one hairy, and two both scaly and hairy. The 

 smooth species is C. Wrightii, Hooker, which I have found in very 

 small (quantity, in a single locality, in tvo dense patches. This is on 

 the sloping side of a very high mountain (a little over 7,000 feet), ex- 

 posed to the very brightest sunshine, and rooting in partially decoms 

 posed, shelly sandstone. It is the smallest of my ferns, being but 

 three or four inches in height, and very pretty. It is thickish, and 

 almost coriaceous. The most beautiful portion of this fern is it 

 stalk, which is of a very rare color, - a siTt of a deep, shining 

 bronze-brown. A dense cluster of these stalks looks brilliant in the 

 sunshine. The lower part of the stalk is chafty. This fern fruits 

 during the middle of the season, that is during October. 



Cheilanthes lanuginosa, Nutt., growing in the Northern Central States, 

 is probably well known to most of you. It is very pretty here, grow- 

 ing in dense, though small tufts, in little hollows and crevices of per- 

 pendicular rocks, where there seems to be no soil whatever, and al- 

 ways on the north side, where no sun can ever reach it. It is one of 

 the earliest ferns to fruit. 



Cheilanthes Eatoni, Baker, the commonest and most abundant spe- 

 cies, is one of the most beautiful. The largest specimens reach a 

 height of a foot, and the fronds are so abundantly clothed with tomen- 

 tum as to nresent a silvery white appearance. The mid rib only is 

 scaly, so that when held to the light there is nothing to obscure the 

 view of. the minute and delicate segments, surrounded with their cir- 

 cles of silvery hairs Happy Mr. E:Uon. to have his name associated 

 with so beautiful a fern, and hanpy fern to be so connected with such 

 a botanist ! It grows everywhere among rocks, flourishing best in 

 moderate shade. 



Cheilanthes Eendleri, Hooker, is the scaly species. When first found, 

 my companion named it "The Hard Green Fern," from the compact 

 and bright-green appearance of the fronds. It grows in large but not 

 dense patches, on hillsides, in gravel and in moderately shady situa- 

 tions. So slight is its articulation that is difficult to remove the dirt 

 from specimens without knocking off all the fronds The color of 

 the scales is said to be "white, changing to brown." I would add 

 that when mature they again fade to a white ; but it is a grayish-white, 

 easily distinguished from the almost pure white of those on young 

 fronds. It fruits in November being one of the latest species. 



Two interesting species I find which I think are C. tnyriophylia, Des- 

 vaux, and C. Lindheimeri, Hooker. The former I have found within 

 a day or two, but in such an aged state that even the determination is 

 doubtful. I do not know its time of fruiting. 



