^BF/ '^^ 



SALVINIA. 



[T may be seriously doubted whether any 

 species of Salvinia is native to North 

 America. In all books devoted to the 

 Pteridophytes we are credited with one 

 species, Salvinia natans, but the evidence 

 to show that it is a native or even natural- 

 ised is far from convincing. It was re- 

 ported from western New York by Pursh 

 about a century ago, but the exact locality 

 has always remained unknown, if it ever 

 really existed. The only other record is 

 the station at Oscher's Lake in the Bois 

 Brule bottoms in Perry County, Missouri, where it was 

 collected by C. H. Demetrio in November, 1886. Mr. 

 Demetrio has kindly favoured the author with part of 

 the original collection in fine fruit and with an account 

 of his finding it. It was collected but once, with Azolla, 

 while on a fishing-trip to the lake, and was not noticed 

 among the other specimens until they were being pre- 

 pared for the press at home. It has apparently never 

 been seen since at this station, nor has it ever been 

 collected elsewhere in a location entirely free from the 

 suspicion that it may have been introduced, and it seems 

 but fair to conclude that the plant is- not native to North 

 America. 



Paradoxical as it may seem, this plant, so rarely found 



