THE MUSEUM. 



6i 



Our readers will readily infer from 

 the brief s\nopsis we have piven of the 

 West Indies, Helix fauna, that it is 

 impossible to do justice to such a var- 

 ied and interesting group, in a short 

 article. If, however, by the aid of 

 the notes given my collecting friends, 

 who do not have access to the large 

 and costly works, may more readily 

 arrange their Helix from this area 

 and thereby make them of renewed in- 

 terest, I shall feel well repaid. If my 

 readers, would like me to arrange a 

 similar synopsis of the Chinese, Japan- 

 ese, East Indian Islands, African and 

 Australian groups, I shall take pleasure 

 in doing so and shall be pleased to 

 hear from those interested. Most of 

 the present synopsis has been gleaned 

 from my own collection with the aid 

 of Tryons' invaluable Manual. 



Walter F. Webb. 



Kaising Ferns from Spores. 



Through the kindness of a friend, 

 fifty varieties of fern seed were re- 

 ceived from Australia, I think from 

 some government garden there. In 

 some packages were spores only, vary- 

 ing much in color; and in others were 

 pieces of fronds, with spores attached, 

 the whole plainly showing great care in 

 collecting and marking. Having an 

 especial liking for ferns, I think I was 

 never more pleased in receiving any- 

 thing in the horticultural line, than in 

 getting these seeds. I took fifty 

 smallest size pots, filled them half up 

 with broken cinders, laid a little sphag- 

 num moss on top, and on the moss a 

 thin layer of loam and sand. On this 

 I scattered the spores, using great care 

 in cleansing the hands, and carefully 

 folding away each paper before taking 

 another. The pols were then plunged 

 in a box of damp ashes, and a large 

 light of glass placed over the box. 

 This glass was hardly lifted till the 

 seeds had started, and after that, only 

 an inch or so at long intervals. In 

 due time (^quite a long time, however,; 

 every pot was covered with a growth 



of seedling ferns, and I rejoiced in the 

 probable possession of some rare va- 

 rieties. \\'hcn the plants were some 

 two inches high, they possessed a sus- 

 picious sameness, and the suspicion 

 gave way to certainty later on, when I 

 found that all but five of the pots had 

 only Ptcris trcinnla in them. Of the 

 five others only two were new to me. 

 I had no plant of Ptcris treinula in the 

 greenhouse, but there was a package 

 of seed with the others. Discouraged, 

 but not quite dismayed, I, next season, 

 selected twenty-five of the choicest 

 sorts, and sowed as before. Again 

 every pot was full, but this time all 

 were J^len's longifolia, of which I had 

 several plants in the greenhouse, but 

 had scattered no seed. I didn't try 

 it again. 



Several sorts of well-known ferns 

 always multiplied in the greenhouse, 

 but never where I had sown the seed. 

 They seemed to have a preference for 

 the sides of the pots containing other 

 plants. I suppose I have sown enough 

 seeds of the Mexican tree-fern, Cihot- 

 iiim glaiHuiii, to get, perhaps, a million 

 plants, but I never foind but one, and 

 that in an out-of-the-way place. So I 

 think the deliberate sowing of fern 

 seed is mostly wasted time. 



Animal Life in the Olympian 

 Mountains. 



Mr. D. G. Elliot, who went to the 

 Northwest last summer in the interest 

 of the Field Columbian Museum, under 

 date of September 13, "98, writes as 

 follows: 



"The expedition to the Olympian 

 Mountains, which I am at present con- 

 ducting, has thus far secured five hun- 

 dred skins of deers, carnivora, and ro- 

 dents, which collection we hope to in- 

 crease considerably before our labors 

 are ended. This collection is exceed- 

 ingly valuable, coming as it does from 

 hitherto unknown localities where no 

 naturalist has ever penetrated. There 

 are probably species new to science 

 among them, but how many cannot 



