Ransier: Hunting the Hart's Tongue 37 



central New York. At Owen Sound it grows freely on 

 top of rocks, from small seams and crevices of out-crop- 

 ping rocks, while in New York it grows in the rich humus 

 deposited between loose rocks forming part of talus. In 

 Canada great numbers of scattered specimens are sterile 

 or nearly so, thin, gray-green in color, spotted with lighter 

 blotches, inclining to white. These give one the impres- 

 sion that they are poorly nourished and immature. 

 Such specimens were comparatively prostrate. Some 

 have thought that the Canadian specimens showed no 

 tendency to fork, but a close watch proved that nearly 

 every thrifty colony contained forking fronds and 30 or 

 more were collected that show various degrees of forking. 

 I do not, however, recall finding a single frond that 

 showed auriculate base lobes, such as are found in New 



York. 



As I was without t\ local guide of any kind, and because 

 the hart's tongue grows so differently there, I feel sure 

 I did not find rich stations for it, which must exist to 

 disseminate spores in sufficiently great abundance to 

 keep the locality so generally affected by them. The 

 rock formation, soil, flora, and elevation of Owen Sound 

 and central New York are almost identical, and climate 

 alone does not appear to account for the difference in 

 growth. That it should be so particular where it grows 

 in New York, and so indifferent in Canada, is puzzling. 



I might add finally that I had the pleasure of securing a 

 couple of new members while on my trip and have had 

 considerable pleasure since in distributing specimens 

 secured there. 



Manlius, N. Y., April 7, 1913. 



