ory 
1891. | SEELYE—ON INDIGENOUS FERNS. 187 
seasons, It was at the lake shore, near Charlotte, west of the river and 
where formerly a broad beach of fine sand extended back to a piece 
of low and swampy ground, where grew coarse grasses and other herbs 
and a few shrubs. Along the border of this ground, amid the grasses, 
grew Onoclea sensibilis in great abundance; but the ferns did not confine 
themselves to the shade supplied by the other plants ; they extended 
out into the sand twenty to thirty feet or more distant from any shade 
whatever, and apparently flourished as well. The cause of this was 
that the soakage from the swamp kept the sand under the surface 
constantly damp, thus providing the roots of the ferris with an unfailing 
supply of moisture. : 
Another example illustrating the point under consideration may 
be given. The Common Polypody, Polypodium Vulgare, L. is not 
common in this region. Wherever found here it is in close proximity 
to water and in shade. The plant seldom assumes ample proportions 
in this region. In striking contrast to it, as it appears here, is it found 
in the northern part of this State, and especially along the banks of the 
St. Lawrence. Among the Thousand Islands it may be seen springing 
from the crevices and pockets of bare rocks, fully exposed along the 
water’s edge, disdaining all shelter from summer’s sun and winter’s winds 
and storms. And in that vicinity, on the main land, on the Canadian 
side, not only near the river but for miles back, the writer has seen it 
growing over rocks in solid masses, covering many square yards of sur- 
face, and without any shade unless it may have been that afforded by 
some distant tree-top which intercepted the slanting rays of the rising 
or the setting sun. In all the northern region of our neighboring 
dominion, with comparatively few days of hot sunshine, and an atmos- 
phere that is profoundly modified by the currents of air moving down 
from the Arctic Ocean and passing over its chains of lakes and rivers, 
and over that great inland sea, Hudson’s Bay, and over the great lakes, 
there is an atmospherig¢ condition admirably adapted to the welfare of 
the plant mentioned, and it flourishes in great vigor all through that 
region. The botanical collector of our own neighborhood. might 
wonder, as did the writer in his early study of the ferns, why a plant 
which is so seldom found here, as is Polypodium vulgare, should bear 
the specific name which it does. The author of this name, it may be 
noted, was Linnzeus. Undoubtedly he may have received specimens 
of the plant from many sources and so recognized its wide range ; but 
the appropriateness of the name was apparent to him chiefly, it may be 
presumed, because in his native land the plant grows abundantly. 
The great peninsula comprising Norway and Sweden having its 
