Recent Fern LITERATURE of 
of a new variety of Botrychium multifidum (B. na 
or B. silaifolium of the manuals) and one of Lycopodiu 
obscurum. 
Vaughan McC aughey has contributed . . phi gi 
interesting account of the genus Gleichenia i pion ies 
Walian Islands. There are only four peppnsne ee 
ut they are important because they are the m of 
abundant ferns of the archipelago and because one It 
them, G, dichotoma, is, so to say, a forest i gone: 
takes possession of clearings in the aah mee 
driving out all other vegetation and mes often 
and impenetrable thickets 2 to 8 ft. a a ae 
hundreds of square rods in extent. Tits ee eres 
to be 20 ft. or more in length and es ae aS with 
of branching repeatedly, become Fae BS masses, 
heighboring fronds, forming dense, pees re bases of 
Sarnished with the hard, sharp and thorn-li ge to the 
old branches broken off—a formidable obstac ; lue of 
mountaineer, and a menace to the economic va 
the forest. 
Git ss the Hawaiians call this fern, has oe pad 
Usefulness. Cattle and goats will eat its AicCaatae 
if they can get nothing better; and Mr. d in basket- 
Suggests that its elastic stems might be use ly pleasing 
Work: otherwise this black sheep in the most toa 
and harmless family of ferns seems to have n 
ing features. 
nih 
. ; Notholaer 
Mr. Maxon, continuing his studies pe Neieare 
and related genera, has published some : peas 
Species of Pellaea. In these he points 
is) in the 
Hs . z nopteris) In 
*McCaughey, Vaughan. The genus Cnet ee 
oe ay beaded st Ne see or Hanae Proc. Biol. Soc. 
‘Maxon, W. R. Notes on western species of 
Wash. 30: 179-194 Dec., 1917 
