Ferns or Porto Rico 81 
feet long. On an open grassy hilltop overlooking the 
southwest corner of the island I collected Botrychium 
Jenmani Underw., the first record of this species from 
Porto Rico. I rejoiced more, however, over finding 
here in abundance the hitherto little known Paspalum 
portoricense. 
The higher mountains, rich in quality, but poor in 
quantity of grasses, afforded time for collecting ferns 
which were always abundant where grasses were scarce. 
Filmy ferns were found on all the dense moist forested 
upper slopes. A species of Trichomanes with fronds 
about a quarter of an inch long was found on moist 
rocks by a waterfall on the Arecibo road to Utuado, 
but nowhere else. Alta de Bandera, east of Adjuntas, 
was the ferniest place I have yet seen, with the possible 
exception of El Yunque. Three species of Hymeno- 
phyllum were here, two with tiny fronds suggesting thalli 
of Riccia fluitans strung along a thread, the other H. 
microcarpon Desv., with fronds three to six inches long. 
With these were Trichomanes scandens the lovely, T. 
crispum L., and T. capillaceum L., the latter a species 
with fronds emaciated to the last degree, with nothing 
left of them but the nerves—all fairly common on the 
wet, jungly mountain side. Asplenium Serra L. & F., 
A. salicifolium L., A. cristatum Lam., Diplazium ar- 
boreum (Willd.) Presl., and Vittaria lineata (L.) Smith 
were also found here. Olfersia cervina (L.) Kunze with 
large pinnate sterile fronds, with entire firm pinnae as 
much as eight inches long and two inches wide, and bi- 
pinnate fertile fronds reduced to a skeleton, was strik- 
ingly unlike anything I had ever seen before. But the 
strangest fern I ever saw was Hymenodium crinitum 
(L.) Fée, with a cluster of sterile fronds in shape and 
size like the leaves of skunk cabbage. The fertile frond 
is of like shape, but much smaller, about six inches long. 
The stipes are densely clothed with coarse black hairs. 
