NO. 1226. NORTH AMERICAN FERNS— MAXON. 621 



small. The changos in the nomenclature of certain o-roups have been 

 so extensive during the past few years as to necessitate devoting con- 

 siderable space to their synonj^my; but a constant aim has been to 

 avoid the burden of useless ))ibliography. Such vernacular names as 

 are in general use have been admitted, following the correct scientitic 

 name of the species and in the order of their importance. 



There is at least one other feature which has seemed to warrant the 

 publication of this list in its present form, namely, the considerable 

 amount of attention gi\en nowadays to geographical distribution. 

 "Within the past twenty years we have had but three comprehensive 

 lists relating to North American pteridophyta and dealing with this 

 phase of fern study. The tirst of these, a Systematic Fern-list, 

 was issued by Professor Eaton in 1880. Its scope is well explained 

 in the supplementary title, A Classified List of the Known Ferns of 

 the United States of America, with the Geographical Range of the 

 Species. The disposition is practically that of the Ferns of North 

 America. The second list. pu])lished b}' ]Mr. George E. Davenport 

 in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society in 1883, 

 applies only to the United States and Alaska. It contains an enumer- 

 ation of the ferns ouly, some comparative tables showing their distri- 

 bution state by state, and an interesting discussion of the range of 

 certain species. The third, issued in 1895, by the Limi»an Fern 

 Chapter, as Linntean Fern Bulletin No. .9, is a list of the species of 

 Pteridophyta of North America north of Mexico, without synonymy, 

 but with distribution briefly indicated. These and the numerous 

 other lists and papers mentioned below have been consulted in the 

 preparation of this paper; but the ranges herein given have been 

 determined chiefly by careful examination of the material in the U. S. 

 National Herbarium, the herljarium of Columbia University, the herba- 

 rium of the New York Botanical Garden, and, in certain genera, the 

 D. C. Eaton herbarium at Yale University and the herliarium of the 

 California Academy of Sciences. FeAV records unsubstantiated by 

 specimens have been allowed. Man}- wrong identifications have been 

 corrected, and the utmost care has been taken to eliminate doubtful 

 records, whether of old or recent standing. 



The following summary will be found to contain a large proportion 

 of the more important lists or extended papers on the distril)ution and 

 systematic relationship of our species: 



1829. Synoptical Tables of the Ferns and Mosses of the United States. Lewis C. Beck 



in the American Jonrnal of Science 15: 287-297. 

 1840. Acotyledonae [of North America]. SirW. J. Hooker, Flora Boreali- Americana 



2: 258-270. 



1843. Flowerless or Cryiitogamous Plants [of New York State]. John Torrey, A 



Flora of the State of New York 2: 480-514. 



1844. A Monography of the North American Species of Equisetum. Alexander 



Braun in the American Journal of Science 46: 81-91. 



