1896] OPEN LETTERS 497 
_ sterling, and it is very probable that if proper steps were taken round trip 
fares could be obtained for seventy-five pounds. It will require another hun- 
_ dred pounds to support a man here for six or eight months. Board, room, 
washing, and servant cost about $45 per month. It must of course be remem- 
- pered that the table is free, providing we get a grant which will enable a man 
tocome here. There is no question as to the wealth of material, and I trust 
that sufficient interest can be aroused to give Americans a chance to utilize 
- it, Various German societies have already acted in the matter.” 
| “As for climate and its effects on one’s health, I need only say that I work 
_ with the microscope from 6:30 A.M. to 8:30 A.M., and from from 9:30 A.M. 
until 1:30 p.m. After 8 P.M. attempts at work bring on sleeplessness, which 
must be avoided. . . . . I find it easy to get everything needed here in the 
_ way of apparatus, literature, etc. There are chemical, entomological, and 
_ botanical laboratories within easy reach, and a fine library, where most of the 
important botanical journals are kept on file. Everything is conducive to 
good work ; in fact in this respect the place is the best I have so far seen.” — 
B.T. GaLLoway, Washington, D. C 
ON THE USE OF THE TERM “FROND” AS APPLIED TO 
FERNS. 
To the Editors of the Botanical Gazette -—One of the greatest annoyances 
of my early experience with fern literature was caused by the use of terms 
inadouble sense. This was especially objectionable and confusing in the 
: use of the term frond which was applied indiscriminately to the leafy portion 
and footstalk combined, and to the leafy part alone, so that it was not 
_ always possible to tell just which was meant by the use of the term. 
It seemed to me that botanical terms should have but one definite mean- 
ing and be used in that sense alone. 
Accordingly when in 1881 I prepared a rough plan for a text-book and 
e Synopsis of North American ferns I adopted the method of using terms in a 
: Single sense only, and I have adhered to that method in my own practice 
_ €ver since. 
Recently | have taken up my manuscript again with the hope of being 
Ale to get it ready for publication, but as I may not be able to do so and as 
the adoption of the word eaves for fronds in the same objectionable double 
_ Setse by the new flora in its treatment of the ferns is only another method 
of retaining the same confusion, I offer the following extract from my manu- 
A aS an expression of my views: 
like A frond in its highest state of development consists of two parts, a leaf- 
€xpansion that is the equivalent of the blade of a leaf, and a footstalk 
tis the equivalent of the petiole of a leaf. The expanded leafy portion is. 
