CANADIAN FILICINE,^. 175 



less ovate iu outline, aud sometimes short-stalked, while the outer margin of the pinnae 

 may be entire or iucised, the latter condition when marked constituting var. incimvi, Milde. 

 A Rocky Mountain specimen of Prof. Macoun's very closely approaches the form with 

 small, alternate, rounded and distant lobes, collected by Mrs. Rust in Onondaga County, 

 New York, while others from the same locality resemble B. simplex in having the sterile 

 segment distinctly petioled. Two plants from Bow River Pass, Rocky Mountains, show 

 the buds bursting for the new growth, which seems to be taking place before the old 

 fronds are Avithered, and specimens from Cape Rosier, Graspé, Que., in other respects typical 

 B. Lunuria, have the sterile segment scarcely overtopped by the fertile, and placed high up 

 on the plant, much as in B. viatricariœfoUum, the common stalk forming about three-fourths 

 of the total height. Some monstrous forms from Flat Creek, Manitoba, also gathered by 

 Macoun, are very stout and fully a foot high, with the fertile segment much branched, 

 the primary lower branches almost as longeas the fertile segment itself, while the sterile 

 segment is stalked and has its lobes, some of the lower of which are converted into 

 branched fertile lîinnœ, deeply incised. 



In ancient times B. Limaria was credited with mysterious and magical powers for 

 opening locks when piit into key -holes, taking the shoes off horses stepping on it, and 

 turning quicksilver into the genuine article, while even to the present day there are firm 

 believers in its powers of healing wounds to which it is applied. 



In Canada the Moonwort occurs from Quebec to British Columbia, and northward to 

 within the Arctic Circle. North side of Island of Orleans, Que. — J. F. Whiteaves. Rivière 

 du Loup en-bas. Que. — D. R. McCord. Exposed cliffs near Cape Rosier, Graspé, Que. ; 

 abundant on the north shore of Lake Superior at the Pic and Nipigon Bay, in meadows at 

 Cape Alexander, twelve miles up the Nipigon River, aud at various points on Lake Nip- 

 igon, Out. ; very plentiful on the prairie close to the sand hills at Flat Creek, Manitoba ; 

 on mountain slopes, Bow River Pass, Rocky Mountains, N. W. Ter. ; in a boggy meadow 

 near Fort McLeod, B. C, Lat. 55°. — Macoun. Carlton House, on the Saskatchewan, N. 

 W. Ter. — Richardson. Echimamish River to Knee Lake, and Churchill River near Hudson 

 Bay, N. W. Ter.— iJ. Bell. 



ft Sterile division, in fully developed fronds, mostly bipinnatifid. 



2. — B. MATRICABI^FOLIUM, A. Br., (Matricary Grape-Fern), "Watt, Can. Nat., IV, 364. 

 Macoun's Cat,, No. 2339. Eaton, Ferns of N.A., I, 129. Underwood, Our Nat. Ferus, 

 etc., 12. 



B. rutaceum, Swz. 



B. simplex, Hook, and Grrev. 



B. neglectum, Wood. 



This is a moderately fleshy, non-evergreen plant, two to twelve inches high, growing 

 commonly in dark, wet woods and along rivulets, birt also found on rather dry and grassy, 

 elevated plateaus. Sterile segment petioled, placed above the middle of (usually high up 

 on) the plant, oblong-ovate in outline, and pinnate into 9-11 ovate, or ovate-oblong, obtuse 

 lobes, which are nearly all of one size and toothed or incised ; fertile segment bipinnate, 

 and generally short stalked ; bud smooth, with the apex of both segments turned down, 

 the sterile segment clasping the fertile one by its side divisions, with its apex overlapping 

 the whole. 



