Sort REAcTIONS OF CERTAIN FERNS—II 47 
Most of the recorded occurrences of Asplenium Brad- 
leyi are on sandstone, schist or gneiss rocks; there are 
only one or two references in the literature to its oecur- 
rence in limestone regions, and apparently none to its 
actual growth on limestone rocks. The statement in 
some manuals that it prefers limestone is thus clearly 
erroneous. It has been studied in the field only along 
the Susquehanna River in southern Pennsylvania, where 
the rock is schist and the soil reaction mediacid to sub- 
acid. Tests on herbarium specimens from Glen Onoko, 
Pennsylvania, Baltimore County, Maryland, and Whit- 
field County, Georgia, showed the same reactions. This 
species is therefore to be classed as an acid soil plant, 
but slightly tolerant of calcium. <Asplenium gravesit, 
the hybrid between this and A. pinnatifidum, is stated 
to grow with the parents on sandstone rock, and is un- 
doubtedly also partial to acid soils. 
The relations of Asplenium montanum are practically. 
identical with those of the preceding species. Reported _ 
almost exclusively on sandstone, schist, or gneiss and 
- only in one or two doubtful instances on limestone, it 
would be suspected to be an acid soil plant; and the 
writer’s tests upon it, at a number of localities in Penn- 
sylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, have demonstrated 
the correctness of this conclusion. Its soil reactions 
are dominantly subacid, and it is relatively intolerant. 
of calcium. The related Asplenium Ruta-muraria be- 
longs, however, quite as definitely in the other class. 
The two or three reports of it on other rocks than lime- 
stone refer to shale, schist, and trap, on which calcareous 
soils often form. Observations made upon it, at several 
localities in Vermont, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 
Virginia have shown it to be in fact practically limited 
to soils made up of limestone fragments; and it has not 
been found in material of more than the slightest degree 
of acidity, so it is classed as a calcareous soil plant prac- 
