ee tnt ale se Oe a em ee ee 
1903] DISTRIBUTION OF ISOETES SACCHARATA 201 
Careful cultures will be necessary to demonstrate conclusively 
the polymorphism of /svetes saccharata Engelm., but that seems 
at present the most satisfactory explanation of the following 
facts. My attention was called both by A. A. Eaton and T. C. 
Palmer to several futile attempts which had been made to secure 
typical material from the ¢yfe locality. It appears that the original 
description was written from a form which is of very rare occur- 
rence. Even the co-type material did not agree with the type, 
and the Wicomico station has been visited several times since, 
but no typical material has been secured there. The infrequency 
of the recurrence of the typical form is well shown by the fact 
that my collection from Hunting Creek, Va., appears to be the 
first material collected since 1863, which agrees in its spore 
characters with the type material. The striking fact here is 
that my collection of typical 7. saccharata Engelm. came from 
the type locality of variety reticulata A. A. Eaton. This colony 
is only a few square meters in extent and a considerable number 
of specimens had been collected there by Vasey and Coville in 
1888, and by W. R. Maxon in 1900 and 1gol. Every one of 
those specimens appear to have been var. reticulata. 1 collected 
at the same place perhaps a dozen specimens, every one of which 
Was typical /. saccharata. The only plausible explanation of 
these facts, it seems to me, is that the identical plants which had 
been var. reticulata at the time of the previous collections, were 
last year typical /. saccharata. 
Another similar circumstance which lends support to this 
explanation is that E. S. Steele’s collection at Four Mile Run in 
1899 was nearly typical 7. saccharata, whereas the considerable 
number of specimens secured by me in 1902 from the same spot, 
all showed extremely well-marked characters of var. reticulata 
A. A. Eaton. : 
I have no such striking facts against the validity of var. 
Palmeri A. A. Eaton, since I visited no Pa/meri station, but much 
of my material from the head of the bay was intermediate 
between 7. saccharata and var. Palmeri, as was also Coville’s 
Mount Vernon collection. T.C. Palmer found the same condi- 
tions at Cabin Johns Creek and Town Point in Elk River. If 
