Notes and News 
Mr. G. P. Van Eseltine has published a study of the 
species of Selaginella allied to S. rupestris and occurring 
in the southeastern United States—that is, the region 
covered by Small’s Flora, extending from the southern 
boundary of Virginia to Florida and west to the 100th 
meridian.' He recognizes eight apparently well-dis- 
tinguished species. Most of them are local and of 
restricted range and, until recently, have been only 
scantily collected—facts which may help to explain 
why plants so different as these in appearance as well 
as in minute characters were for many years allowed 
to pass as belonging to a single species. 
Each species is illustrated by half-tone plates from 
photographs which show excellently its habit and what- 
ever else photographs can show, and also by line draw- 
ings of enlarged details. These are faithful and appar- 
ently exact in their representation of essential characters, 
but obscure rather than emphasize these characters 
by over-use of coarse shading. 
At the semi-centennial of the Torrey Botanical Club 
in 1917, Dr. J. K. Small presented a brief general paper 
on the ferns of tropical Florida which, he then stated, 
was to serve later as an introduction to a more detailed 
treatment. This- has now been published in a little 
book of 90 pages—a book which any lover of ferns who 
visits southern Florida will do well to take with him.? 
The preface, containing the substance of the semi- 
centennial paper, gives a brief but excellent account 
an Eseltine, G. P. The allies of Selaginella fogs in the south- 
pein United States. Cont. U. S. Nat. Herb. 20: 159-172, pls. 15-22, 
figs. 63-70. 1918. 
?Small, J. K. Ferns of Tropical Florida. New York: published by 
the author. Pp. x, 80, pls. — oe text figs. 1918. The introduction, as 
Journ. 18: 126-134. Feb., 
