Ferns of the Coast Region of S. Carolina 89 



serrulata. Ravenel could not have failed to know of 

 Professor Gibbes' discovery. He may, however, have 

 examined only young specimens, which frequently lack 

 the decurrent character of the leaf. Scarcely three years 

 before the species was still undetermined, as Prof. D. 

 C. Eaton wrote.* "I learn from Prof. Lewis R. Gibbes, 

 that a Pteris has sowed itself and grown abundantly on 



the walls of the College of Charleston, S. C. It will be 



very interesting to know whether this is Pteris cretica 

 or Pteris serrulata." Miss Gibbes, who was her father's 

 amanuensis, tells me that he sent specimens to Pro- 

 fessor Eaton for determination. Chapman includes the 

 species in the supplement to the 1884 edition of his 

 Flora as P. serrulata from Charleston. In the main 

 text of Professor Gibbes' copy of this edition he has 

 added P. serrulata in pencil to the given species of 



Ptertx, but makes no mention of cretica. 



Although the ferns have disappeared from the Went- 

 worth Street house and the laboratory at the College of 

 Charleston was taken down after the earthquake of 



1886, there is no room to doubt that the present well- 

 known P. eerrulata L. (., or P. multifida Poir according 

 to most recent synonoiny, is the fern of Professor Gibbes' 



discovery and that the belief that P. cretica has ever 

 been taken in Charleston is an illusion based on Raven- 

 el's error. 



The species is deciduous in Charleston; growth con- 

 tinues throughout the year, however, and young plants 



may be found in January. Spores mature in April. 



Pteridh Flf aouilinum (L.) Kuhn. Bracken. Com- 

 mon throughout coast region, in open sandy woods. 



With scrub oaks this specie's forms the typical under- 

 growth where the pine barrens are frequently burned 

 over. It is the only fern of the dry, lightly-wooded sea 



♦Bull. Torrey Bot, Club. 6: :?07. 1S79. 



