272 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Aug. 



Pell^a. 



O) 



P. cftropurpurea, Link. — Stipe and rachis almost black, shining 

 6 to 12 inches high, frond coriaceous, pinnate, divisions opposite, 

 linear-oblong or somewhat oval. Pteris atropurpurea^ Linn. Platy- 

 loma afrop., J. Sm., Torr. N. Y., ii. p. 488. AUosorus atropur- 

 pureas, A. Gray. Pellcea atropurpurea, Link., Fee, J. Sm. in Cat., 

 Eaton. — Niagara River, at the Whirlpool, three miles below the 

 Falls. This fern seems to retain its fronds all winter, for I have 

 fertile specimens, in a fine state collected at the Whirlpool at the 

 end of February, 1859, by A. 0. Brodie. Dr. P. W. Maclagan has 

 also collected it there. It is not common anywhere on the Ameri- 

 can continent so far as I can learn. Mr. Lowe speaks of it as in 

 cultivation in Britain, " an evergreen frame or greenhouse species, 

 not sufficiently hardy to stand over winter's cold." There must be 

 some other reason for want of success in its cultivation in Britain. 



Allosorus. 



A. Stelleri, Ruprecht. — Fronds pale green, thin and papery, 3 to 

 9 inches long, bipinnate and tripinnate, some of the smaller barren 

 fronds scarcely more than pinnate ; pinngs five or six pairs ; lobes of 

 the barren frond, rounded, oval, veiny ; of the fertile frond, much 

 narrower, linear-lanceolate, firmer ; sori at the tips of the forked 

 veins along the margins, stipe red, whole plant glabrous. A beauti- 

 ful and delicate fern, growing in the crevices of rocks, rare. AUo- 

 sorus Stelleri, Ledeb, Fl. Bossica. Allosorus gracilis^ Presl., A. 

 Gray, Torrey Fl. N. Y. ii. p. 487. In a letter from Mr. T. Moore 

 (1857), he mentioned to me that he had learned from specimens 

 from Dr. Kegel, St. Petersburg, that " the North American Allosorus 

 gracilis is the old Pteris Stelleri of Amman, so that it spreads 

 from North America through Siberia to India, whence Dr. Hooker 

 has it." Allosorus minutus^ Turcz. PI. Exs. Cheilanthes gracilis^ 

 Klf. Cryptograninia gracilis, Torrey. Pteris Stelleri, Gmelin, 

 Pteris ininuta, Turcz. Cat. PI. Baik. Dah. Pt. gracilis, Michaux. 

 — Near Lakefield, North Douro, C. W., on rocks, Mrs Traill ; abun- 

 dant in crevices of limestone rocks, on the rocky banks of the 

 Moira, Belleville, Co. Hastings, J. Macoun ; Lake of Three Moun- 

 tains, W. S. M. D'Urban ; Canada to the Saskatchewan, Hook. Fl. 

 Bor. Am. ; Dartmouth, Gasp^, John Bell, B.A. This is a North- 

 ern species, and rare in the United States. 



