ANOTHER “FREAK”? EQUISETUM 103 
neither very high nor very low when compared with other 
kinds of foliage.* 
It would be interesting to try this simple experiment 
on other epiphytes, not only ferns, but mosses and 
lichens and flowering plants too, in warm climates 
where aerial spermatophytes are. available. Possibly 
few botanical laboratories are provided with the re- 
quisite incinerating apparatus, but in the case of those 
connected with colleges there is usually a chemical 
laboratory near by, If the services of a competent 
chemist could be enlisted the ash of many such plants 
might be analyzed, with results not only interesting 
from an Ecological standpoint, but perhaps also of 
diagnostic value in distinguishing related species. 
For accurate results certain precautions should be 
observed, such as collecting all the material from the 
Same tree or same kind of tree, washing off any pos- 
sible dirt and dust, testing jt at different seasons of 
the year or taking old and young foliage separately, etc. 
It would be a simple matter also to determine at the 
Same time the ash content (with analysis if possible) 
of the bark on which the plants grow. 
UNriversrry, ALA, 
Another ‘‘Freak’’ Equisetum 
J. C, Ne.son 
While collecting on the southwest slope of Mount 
Jefferson, in Linn County, Oregon, on Aug. 13, 1919, 
in company with Professor M. FE. Peck, we found 
that the delta at the east end of Pamelia Lake (altitude 
4000 feet) was occupied by an almost pure growth of 
a tall Equisetum with freely-branching, rather weak 
* For ash determinations of several types of herbaceous vegetation on 
Long Island see Plant World 21; 43-46, 191s. 
