Notes and News. 93 



the Club on its walk and described by Miss Bewley 

 in her remarks, were: Cheilanthes vestita, Asplenium pin- 

 natifidum, A. platy neuron, A filixfmmina, Botrychium vir- 

 ginianum, Osmunda regalis, 0. cinnamomea, C. Claytoni- 

 ana, Onoclea se?isibilis, Dryopteris acrostichoides, D. 

 Novoboracensis, D. Thelypteris, D. marginalis, D. spinu- 

 losa intermedia, Phegopteris Phegopteris, Adiantum 

 pedatum and Polypodium vulgare. 



The speaker also discussed other rare ferns she had 

 studied, but had not found in Bucks County, combatting 

 strongly the hybrid theory as regards Asplenium ebe- 

 noides R. R. Scott, and suggesting the new thought 

 on the subject that it would be quite as rational to assume 

 that ebenoides and consort might be the parent ferns 

 of either Camptosorus or platy neuron, as that ebenoides 

 was their hybrid. 



Fern" protection needed 



In the last few years a flourishing industry has sprung 

 up in the collecting of the fronds of our native ferns 

 for florists. One important question at once arises: 

 Does this collecting of fronds injure the plants them- 

 selves and in time kill them? As yet I have been unable 

 to -answer this question in a satisfactory way. It is 

 true, doubtless, that careless pickers are apt to disturb the 

 roots, which may become exposed to the dry surface air. 

 In time this exposure may cause the death of the plant. 



A few figures regarding this fern industry may be of 

 interest. In the town of Cavendish, Vermont, the 

 Christmas fern, Polystichum aerostichoides (Michx.) 

 Schott, known to the collectors as the "dagger" fern, 

 has been the only species collected. One season ten 

 to fifteen thousand fronds of this fern were collected 

 daily by two boys and their assistants. From forty to 

 fifty cents per thousand was paid for the fronds collected. 

 From Cavendish alone in one year three hundred and 



