66 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL 
the first day, I noticed near the road a small stream 
meandering through the low virgin forest which still 
occupies some of this region. The stream had steep 
banks, much like those of a drainage ditch, where it 
had cut through the hard clay subsoil for about 6 or 
8 feet. Growing just about the dividing line between 
the sandy soil and the clay subsoil were these ferns 
that I have numbered 436! and 437. On February 11th 
I made a trip back to this stream to get these specimens 
and was surprised to find two species occupying the 
same habitat. I did not find either one on the level of 
the woodland nearby, where Asplenium platyneuron was 
growing abundantly. I saw one other brook of this 
type in the region, but unfortunately the woodland 
around it had been cleared away and the ferns that 
had been there recently had disappeared. 
“The woodland where these ferns grew is about 300 
feet above sea level and about 50 feet below the crest 
of the high hammock which runs through this part of 
Florida. Their plant associates were those normal to 
the hardwood forest of this region, namely, live-oaks, 
persimmon, Crataegus, Smilax, Tilia, Vitis, Tillandsia, 
Habenaria, and Epidendrum. While there are intro- 
duced plants in this region, they are either weeds or 
weed-like flowering plants that have escaped from gar- 
dens around Brooksville. There is absolutely nothing 
to suggest that either of these ferns (Blechnum occi- 
dentale and Polypodium pectinatum) has been brought to 
this region.” 
The probability that B. occidentale would be dis- 
covered at some point of the Gulf Coast region had 
previously been pointed out.2 
Rance or Woopwarpia sPINULOsA Mart. & GAL-— 
This species, which has been known in the United States 
1No. 436 is Polypodium pectinatum 1.. 
2 Amer. Fern Journ. 4: 16 4 
