Notes on the Ferns of Champlain Valley 117 



what stronger characters and apparently definite, 

 although limited range, has the pinnules, which are 

 likewise entire, glandular-pubescent, as well as the 

 upper part of the raehis. The next four forms have 

 some or all of the pinnules toothed, lobed or crenulate, 

 and are usually best developed in deep, rich, shady 

 woods. Forma incisa (Huntington) Gilbert has many of 

 the pinnules particularly towards the middle of the pinnae 

 sharply toothed and when extreme is the handsomest 

 form of the species. Included in this is var. auriculata 

 Hopkins, a plant which in its often greatly enlarged 

 basal pinnules, shows an approach to the next form, but 

 which on account of their acute dentations seems better 

 referred here. Forma bipinnatifida Clute, of which f. 

 trifolia Clute is merely a lesser development, has bluntly 

 lobed pinnules, with the lobing most conspicuous toward 

 the base of the pinnae, the lowest pinnules being often 

 much elongated. The new forma latipinnula Blake 

 has very thin oblong or almost deltoid pinnules, 1 cm. 

 wid<\ 1.5-2 cm. long, with crenulate or slightly lobulate 

 margin. The type comes from Stoughton, Massachu- 

 setts, and I have seen it also from Walpole, and from 

 S wanton, Vermont. The peculiar forma cornucopia- 

 folia Clute, described and figured in Fern Bulletin XVI. 

 108-109 (1908), has the cost a of the pinnae naked for 

 some distance near the tip, and many of the pinnules, 

 some of which are lobed, bear ascidia on naked veinlets 

 from the under surface. Finally the well-known forma 

 frowfosa (Torr. & Gray) Britton, generally quoted as 

 var. /random Gray, has the fruiting pinnae partly foli- 

 ar* ous. During 1912, I found an abundance of this 

 form in the vicinity of Stoughton, and while it was often 

 met with in burnt-over ground, quite as often it occurred 

 in meadows or pastures where there was no evidence of 

 recent fires. On one occasion, in 11)08, I found the same 

 form in a white cedar swamp in Canton, where also no 

 obvious cause for this deviation was evident. 



