October, 1920.] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



139 



such as Boottii, mlermedium and americana (the 

 latter formerly known as dilatalum) are by no means 

 always easy to determine, and more time will have 

 to be spent on them before any very definite opinion 

 can be expressed as to their distribution. 



BuLBLET Bladder Fern, Cystopteris bulbifera 

 (L.) Bernh. It seems strange to have to speak of a 

 fern as a nuisance, but that is what this species really 

 is at times. It abounds everywhere not only on the 

 rocks, but in the woods as well. I remember once 

 visiting Burrough's Falls in the hope of finding some 

 of the smaller rock ferns. I soon gave up the search 

 as the rocks were simply smothered with this species, 

 and it would have been impossble to detect any of 

 the small Aspleniums with such a blanket over them. 

 The Fragile Bladder Fern, C^stopteris fragilis, is not 

 nearly so abundant and can really be said to be rar*" 

 in comparison with the Bulblet. 



Smooth Woodsia, Woodsia glabella, R. Br. 

 This rare and delicate little fern I look upon as one 

 of my best finds. The only locality for it is situated 

 on the eastern shore of Lake Massawippi, between 

 the railway station of that name and Perkin's Point. 

 I first found it on May 24 of this year (1920) 

 almost at the foot of a rocky railway slope 

 and I am pleased to say there was quite a little 

 colony of it, all the plants I examined being 

 heavily fruited. 



Ostrich Fern, Pleretis nodulosa (Michx.) 

 Nieuwl. Of the large ferns this in my opinion is the 

 handsomest, although the great Osmundas run it very 

 close. The reason for its masquerading under the 

 names Plerelis nodulosa and not Onoclea Siruthiop- 

 teris as heretofore ,will be found fully explained in 

 Mr. Weatherby's paper already referred to. 



Royal Fern, Osmunda regalis L., var. spectabilis 

 (Willd.) Gray. Seeing that the American Royal 

 Fern differs from the European in the shape of its 

 pinnules it has been thought desirable to make it a 

 geographic variety, hence the var. spectabilis, see 

 Weatherby as above. 



Cinnamon Fern, Osmunda cinnamomea L. Pos- 

 sibly of the three Osmundas this is the most widely 

 distributed. On August 22, 1919, I came across a 

 peculiar frond growing apparently from a root of 

 Osmunda Clayloniana, which I gathered and 

 pressed, there being only this one example. From 

 the disposition of the pinnules I took it to be var. 

 dubia Grout. On September 7, 1920, however, I 

 came across another similar frond very near the 

 same spot, which clearly belonged to O. cinna- 

 momea. This caused me to more carefully examine 

 the previous frond at the base of some of whose 

 pinnae, by means of a magnifying glass, I found the 

 little woolly tufts, thereby clearly establishing its 

 identity as cinnamomea. I also found where ' had 

 gathered it the year previous that there was a root of 



cinnamomea and Claytoniana growing almost inter- 

 locked, and as there were several fronds of the latter 

 and only this one of the former I had taken it as 

 belonging to Clayloniana. The pinnae of these 

 fronds are placed far apart on the rachis the upper 

 ones being from 2.5 to 3.5 cm., and the lower ones 

 4 cm. apart. The pinnules which are somewhat 

 toothed or lobed are also from 5 to 10 mm. apart 

 which gives the whole frond a very light and open 

 appearance. As far as I can gather there is no 

 name for this variety, or may it be a cross between 

 these two Osmundas? 



Adder's Tongue Fern, Ophioglossum vulgatum 

 L. As it is proposed to make the family Ophio- 

 glossaceae the subject of a further paper, at some 

 future time, I only propose in the present instance to 

 deal very briefly with each species. The present one 

 I find in the damp hollows of almost every mowing 

 field, as well as on the dry knolls of some of the 

 upland pastures. In the latter situations, environ- 

 ment plays an important part in the growth of the 

 species, many of the plants only attaining a height of 

 from 3 to 9 cm., whereas those growing in the 

 damper situations run from 20 to 33 cm. 



Moonwort, Botrychium Lunaria (L.) Sw. This 

 rare little fern was only discovered in June of the 

 present year (1920) in two localities, in one of 

 which only one plant was found, and about half 

 a dozen in the other. These latter seem referable to 

 the form known as onondagense Underw. 



Matricary Grape Fern, Boirychium ramosum 

 (Roth.) Aschers. In 1919 this species was particu- 

 larly abundant in one station on sloping ground under 

 cedars, but this year comparatively few plants could 

 be found, although at another new station, also on 

 sloping ground, but under deciduous trees, quite a 

 number could have been gathered. 



Common Grape Fern, Botrychium obliquum 

 Mulh. This species and the var. dissectum Spreng, 

 I had the gratification of adding to the list of Qu bcc 

 ferns on December 21, 1918, as recorded in "The 

 Canadian Field-Naturalist," Vol. XXXIII, 

 1919, No. 5, p. 97. At that time only one example 

 of each was found, and nothing was known of their 

 distribution. Now, however, I am able to state that 

 both are abundantly distributed, obliquum being 

 much the commoner of the two. 



Ternate Grape Fern, Boirychium tcrnatum 

 (Thunb.) Sw., var. intermedium D. C. Eaton. This 

 is another well distributed species, but not nearly so 

 plentiful as obliquum. 



Rattlesnake Fern, Botryduum virginianum 

 (L.) Sw. There is hardly a wood in which this 

 species is not more or less abundant, the plants 

 ranging in height from 8 to 60 cm. 



It may here be of interest to mention, that of the 

 forty-one species and varieties enumerated, all have 



