4o 



there the shale land which supports a good growth of elms, butter- 

 nuts and ash. 



Mr. Jack visited the station at the time, but without finding 

 further plants. After his return to Halifax, the gardener upon dili- 

 gent search secured a number of additional plants, four of which 

 were forwarded to Mr. Jack, who later presented one to the Nat- 

 ural History Society of New Brunswick, and a frond to the Nova 

 Scotia Institute of Natural Sciences. The Eaton Herbarium con- 

 tains also two fronds of the var. marginatum, collected by Sutton 

 in July, 1885. Mrs. Dibblee states that the fern was brought in 

 several times from the same place. Mr. Hay adds that quite a 

 number of them still thrive in the conservatory and upon the rock- 

 ery at her home, but that plants presented to him at various times 

 have not survived. 



Mr. John Macoun has (in correspondence) suggested the pos- 

 sibility of the fern's having become first established as an escape, 

 but a thorough knowledge of the facts attending its discovery has 

 convinced both Mr. Hay and myself that it was undoubtedly native. 

 In fact, Mr. Sutton has stated that he once found the fern in a 

 ravine farther in the woods, about eight miles from town, but that 

 he has not again seen it there. Mr. Hay has long intended a sys- 

 tematic search for the fern about Woodstock. Such a search would 

 probably result in its discovery somewhere in the general vicinity. 



THE TENNESSEE STATIONS. * 



The Hart's-tongue has been found in two localities in Tenn- 

 essee, viz., near Post Oak Springs, and at South Pittsburg, of which 

 the latter only has been known in literature. 



a. The Post Oak Springs Station. In 1849 ^ r - A.Gattinger de- 

 tected the fern a short distance west of the village of Post Oak 

 Springs, in Roane county. About one mile southwest of the vil- 

 lage occurs a pool in an open cave in the front ( southeastern ) edge 

 of the hill, and from this issues a small stream to the eastward. 

 Over the top of the hill, i. e., on the northern side, and distant 

 about a half inile, occurs another open cave, called the " dry 

 cave," about the mouth of which a few plants were found by Dr. 

 Gattinger. This cave is about one mile directly west of the village. 



* In his Tennessee Flora ( 1887) p. 102, Dr. Gattinger refers the fern to " New 

 Pittsburg," a mistake for South Pittsburg, and adds "not found [there] by 

 myself." The previous station (Post Oak Springs) concerning which he has 

 lately written me, was unfortunately overlooked. 



