Antericant Fern Journal 
Vol. ae APRIL-JUNE, 1919 No. 2. 
ee TREO Nero soca = 
Early Dei of the American Fern Society 
E. J. WINSLOW 
It is not especially fitting that I should assume the of- 
fice of historian, as it was not until after more than nine 
years of the Society’s existence that I became a member. 
And I find that not less than forty-four of the names 
on our membership roll have been there longer than 
mine. It is my hope that these disjointed fragments, 
recalled from the past in recognition of the twenty-fifth 
anniversary of the founding of the American Fern Soci- 
ety may be, as it were, a breaking of the ice, to be fol- 
lowed by contributions, perhaps from our three remain- 
ing charter members, or from some of the other forty or 
more who have “‘come down to us from former genera- 
tions. ”’ 
I began the study of ferns at about the beginning of 
the present century, and sometime early in 1902 discov- 
ered with some surprise that a flourishing society of one 
hundred or more members had been organized to pro- 
mote this study. My dollar was promptly sent in and 
in due time I received a very cordial letter of welcome 
from Treasurer James A. Graves. 
At the tenth anniversary of the founding of the So- 
ciety President B. D. Gilbert wrote a “ Historical Sketch 
of the Linnean Fern Chapter” which appeared in the 
Fern Bulletin for October 1902. This article contains 
the following account of the origin of the Fern Chapter, 
. No. 1 of the Journat, pages 1-32, Plates 1 and 2, was issued 
{Vol. 
Moereh ne 1619] 
33 
