ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 459 



already lived for some years underground and have lost all connection 

 with the prothallia. After an allusion to the previous work of Irrnisch, 

 Campbell, and others, the author describes how and where he gathered 

 his own material ; and then discusses in detail the structure of the 

 gametophyte and sporophyte, the latter being treated from three points 

 of view — the. older plant, the embryo plant, and the rare occurrence of 

 branching. 



North American Ferns.* — B. D. Gilbert gives an account of the 

 North American varieties of Polypodium vulyare, founded on a com- 

 parison with critical specimens from Europe supplied by Druery and 

 Christ. He describes 15 varieties and forms, and arranges them in four 

 groups according to whether the fronds are normal or branched or 

 crested, or have the piling more or less lobed. One variety and three 

 forms are new. 



B. M. Rooneyt describes the "resting" of Botrychium, and the 

 results of her observations on B. Virgiiiianum. On each sterile plant, 

 even in the bud, she found the abortive sporangium, which differs in 

 size, shape, and colour from the healthy fruiting sporangium of fertile 

 plants. She believes that the number of years for a plant to be fruitful 

 or sterile varies ; there is no regular alternation. No such abortive 

 sporangium was found on Ophioglossum vulgatum. 



W. N. Clute % describes briefly a form of Osmunda cinnamomea 

 which differs slightly from var. incisa Hunt, and is designated by the 

 author as var. Mpinnatifida. 



W. C. Dukes § records Botrychium biternatum from a locality west of 

 Mobile, Alabama, and gives a short account of its growth from August 

 to April. 



W. N. Clute, || criticising certain customs of botanical nomenclature, 

 especially the citation of authors' names— one for the original species, as 

 well as another for the latest combination of genus and species — takes 

 exception to sundry species ascribed to the recently founded Sceptridium 

 on the score that they merit only varietal rank. He also describes the 

 small Polypodium piloselloides^ common in the West Indies. His check 

 list ** of North American fernworts is continued from Trichomanes to 

 AspUnium. 



E. J. Winslow ft records some objections to the distribution 

 assigned to the species of Botrychium in the first instalment of the 

 check list above mentioned. 



W. Scott's |f instructions on the cultivation of ferns from their 

 spores are reproduced from " Gardening." 



Exotic Ferns.§§ — "W. R. Maxon describes a new species of Lycopodium 

 from Guatemala, under the name of L. dichaeoides. It is related to 

 L. aqualupianum, and is represented in the collection of 0. F. Cook and 

 R. F. Griggs by No. 251, and in that of Robert Hay by No. 3268. 



* Fern Bulletin, xiv. (1906) pp. 33-41. 



f Tom. cit., pp. 42-44. J Tom. cit., pp. 44-5. 



§ Tom. cit., pp. 45-6. || Tom. cit., pp. 46-8. 



\ Tom. cit., p. 59 (1 pi.). ** Tom. cit., pp. 56-8. 



ft Tom. cit., pp. 48-50. %% Tom. cit., pp. 50-5. 



§§ Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, xviii. (1905) pp. 231-2, 239-40. 



2 h 2 



