What the Latin Names Mean—lI. 
In a late number of the JourNat, the suggestion was 
made that amateur members of the Society migh 
interested in getting the meanings and application of 
the Latin specific names of ferns. In accordance with 
this suggestion, the following list of specific and varietal 
names now in use for our northeastern ferns, with their 
interpretations, has been prepared. If there is suffi- 
cient indication that it meets a long-felt want, the 
editors will endeavor to provide similar lists for the 
fern allies and for other sections of the country. 
Unmistakable geographical names, like virginica and 
americana, have been omitted. It is to be understood 
that all such expressions as ‘‘of cliffs,” “of woods” 
and the like, refer to the kind of place in which the plant 
in question grows, or was supposed to grow by the author 
who gave it its name. “Lat.” stands, of course, for 
Latin; “Gr.” for Greek. 
acrostichoides—Gr., like Acrostichum, a genus of tropical ferns in 
ich the spovangix are not gathered into separate sori, but 
cover the whole under surface of the fertile fronds or segments. 
angusta—Lat., ow. 
angustifoliu leak: narrow-leaved. 
angus nae chee ren with narrow divisions; referring to the 
sterile fro 
debenias «Tak: - an eagle; referring to the pattern, like a herald- 
ic eagle, formed by the vascular bundles when the stem of the 
bracken is cut across near the base—a detail noted as long ago 
areolata—Lat., with ll or meshes; referring to the pattern 
formed by the veins. 
atropurpurea—Lat., dark purple; referring to the color of the stipe. 
attenuatu ee gradually narrowed; referring to the shape of the 
segmen 
esta ee eared; referring to the projecting lobes at the base 
of the pinnae which suggest in shape the ears of an animal. 
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