562 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



regards a species as characterised only by its constant relation to the 

 outer world, or in other words, as comprising all individuals which have 

 arisen by vegetative reproduction or self-fertilisation, and showing 

 identical characters for many generations. The potentialities of Klebs 

 are immaterial as compared with the pangens of l)e Vries, which are 

 material and carry the unit characters. 



Preserving Plants.* — G. Pollacci finds that plants preserved in a 

 w T eak solution of sulphur-dioxide retain their form and are kept in 

 good condition for sectioning. The colour may be preserved by immer- 

 sion in an aqueous solution of copper-sulphate before being placed in 

 the preservative. 



CRYPTOGAMS. 



Pteridophyta. 



(By A. Gepp, M.A., F.L.S.) 



North American Ferns. — A. B. Klughj gives a list of 79 ferns 

 which form the fern-flora of Ontario. He records the stations at which 

 they have been found, and briefly describes the geological characters of 

 the province, and the mean yearly temperatures of its counties. L. H. 

 McNeill | gives an account of Botrychium biternatum, a rare species 

 found in the neighbourhood of Mobile, Alabama, and relates how it was 

 pointed out to him about 80 years ago by the late Dr. Charles Mohr, in 

 a spot now covered with buildings. On searching for the plant two 

 years ago, he re-discovered it in two places. He describes the manner 

 of growth of the plant, the kind of habitat which it prefers, and the 

 characters which satisfy him that it is a distinct species not to be con- 

 founded with B. obliquum. W. Palmer, § discussing the occurrence of 

 green and red stiped lady ferns in North America, requests botanists to 

 help him in defining the geographical distribution of the two forms, and 

 in ascertaining whether the form with green stipe is boreal and the red 

 austral. W. N. Clute || describes the distribution of Botrychium Lunaria 

 in North America, and gives his reasons for the opinion that B. ononda- 

 gense cannot be separated from it specifically. E. L. Lee IF gives an 

 account of a hidden shaded nook in the Cumberland mountains near 

 South Pittsburg, Tennessee, the only recorded station for Scolopendrium 

 in the south, and suggests that the apparent rarity of the plant may be 

 due to the secluded nature of its haunts. G. E. Davenport,** writing 

 on the forms of Botrychium simplex, points out that the fully matured 

 form of the plant is Lasch's var. compositum, of which that author 

 described a binate and a ternate form ; that this variety bears the lamina 

 low down near the base of the frond, while Milde's var. fallax bears 

 the lamina above the middle of the frond. W. N. Clute ft continues his 

 check list of the North American fernworts. Mrs. J. R. Sanf ord %% 



* Bull. Soc. Bot. Ital., 1905, p. 242. 



t Fern Bulletin, xiv. (1906) pp. 65-74. % Tom. cit., pp. 74-6. 



§ Tom. cit., pp. 78-9. || Tom. cit., pp. 80-1 (1 pi.). 



% Tom. cit., pp. 82-4. ** Tom. cit., pp. 84-5. 



tt Tom. cit., pp. 86-90. JJ Rhodora, viii. (1906) pp. 113-14. 



