Fern Nomenclature 119 



Among lycopods L. clavatum, L. complanaium var. 

 flabeUiforme, L. inundatum, L. lucidulum, and L. ob- 

 Bcurum with its var. dendroideum occurred at both lo- 

 calities. L. clavatum var. megastachyon was found at 

 Essex and on Mt. Mansfield, L. tristachyum at Burling- 

 ton and Fairfield, and L. Selago at 3950 feet on Mt. 

 Mansfield. The only selaginella of the region is S. 

 rupestris, which was collected at Cobbehill, Milton, and 

 at Prospect Hill, St, Albans, where it formed large 

 mats on exposed ledges at 800 feet. 



Paris, France. 



Fern nomenclature 



CHAS. T. DRUERY, V. II. H. ; F. L. S. 



From the point of view of the English Fern students, 

 the fern nomenclature adopted in the American Fern 

 Journal affords ample evidence of the terrible haste 

 which the scientific botanists have made in the course 

 of their research regarding the original names given by 

 the older botanists with the result of resurrections 

 thereof (L e. of the names, not the botanists), and the 

 increased puzzlement of the fernists of the present day 

 due to the changes involved. In many cases this in- 

 volves a sort of translation from one language into 



t5^"& 



another which between otherwise English-speaking 

 nations is an absurdity. I, for instance, am familiar 

 with certain common ferns, which are popularly called 

 buckler ferns and scientifically here Lastrea, or better 

 still, Nephrodium, this latter name indicating the kidney- 

 shaped form of the indusium, which the word buckler, 

 as distinct from shield, does also to an accepted ex- 

 tent. In the States, however, instead of these I find 

 frequent mention of Dryopteris as the accepted synonym, 

 which merely means oak fern, an obvious absurdity, as 



