No. 5.] GOODE — CANADIAN FERNS. 297 



NOTES ON SOME CANADIAN FERNS. 



By John B. Goode, Esq. 



The following new and rare species and varieties of Canadian 

 ferns were collected by the author during the summer of 1879 : 



Aspidlum Filix-mas, Swartz. — This common European species 

 can now be added to the list of ferns indigenous to our own Pro- 

 vince of Quebec. It has already been found in Ontario by Mrs. 

 Roy, at Owen Sound ; and in Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. 



Whilst in Gaspe last summer I was fortunate in alighting 

 upon a small colony of this bold fern, which was growing in a 

 a most delightful spot, several miles back of any settlement, 

 through close dense woods, and at the foot of a precipitous moun- 

 tain, down the rough side of which a small torrent came tumbling 

 in a series of cascades, creating an atmosphere in which the 

 ferns and mosses appeared to luxuriate. This species was grow- 

 ing on a well-drained slope in rich leaf-mould, with an open 

 exposure. My specimens were gathered on the 10th of July, 

 the fruit-dots being then scarcely ripe. 



Fronds grow in a circular clump, from an upright root-stock, 

 attaining a maximum height of about 3 feet, broadly lanceolate 

 in form, rather abruptly terminating in a narrow tapering apex. 

 Stalk about a fourth of the length of the frond, densely clothed 

 at base with chaffy brown scales, decreasing upwards. 



Fronds bright green and smooth, much paler underneath, 

 pinnate or sub-bipinnate, excepting at the top which is only 

 pinnatifid. Pinnae mostly alternate, rather crowded above, but 

 more distant at the base ; narrow and tapering gradually from 

 the second pair of basal pinnules to an acute apex ; pinnatifid 

 into oblong-obtuse segments, which are connected by a narrow 

 wing and finely serrated on the sides and apex, the basal ones 

 being incisely-lobed and conspicuously elongated either on the 

 anterior or posterior side or sometimes on both. 



Fruit-dots nearer mid-vein than margin, medium in size and 

 confined to the lower half or two-thirds of each fertile pinnule, 

 the mid-veins of which are straightish, with alternate and either 

 simple or forked lateral veins. Indusium round-kidney shaped 

 and rather persistent. 



