120 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL 
I sent a specimen of these polypodies to Mr. Jay 
G. Underwood of Hartland, Vt., and this is what he 
says about them: 
“With regard to the Polypody would say this fern 
does vary very much according to its habitat. I have 
found forms in cold ravines, that are similar to the one 
you sent. Botanists do not, in this country, recognize 
these as of any definite difference requiring names. I 
think that in England a good many of these forms 
have been given names, but nothing of the sort has been 
attempted here, probably because the forms intergrade 
and do not seem to breed true.” 
So, now, I meditate upon the misfortune of the little 
Polypody’s fate of being reared and thriving in our un- 
crowned Republic, when if living under the skies of the 
crowned Kingdom they might be given a name of their 
own. The brook still gurgles beneath their feet, and 
the rustling leaves over their canopy of green still 
whisper the name, “ Polypodium vulgare.” 
Union, Me. 
Notes and News 
An old letter, written in 1836 by Dr. Joseph Barratt 
of Middletown, Conn., to Dr. Torrey and now preserved 
at the New York Botanical Garden, contains an ap- 
parently unpublished detail in regard to the discovery 
of the hart’s-tongue fern in central New York by Pursh. 
Dr. Barratt writes: 
“T was glad to hear you had discovered Scolopendrium vulgare 
in N. Y. Some years since I conversed with Mr. J. Geddes about 
this fern. He told me he was with Pursh at the time he found it, 
and he exclaimed: ‘I am better pleased at finding this plant than 
dollar bill.’—Mr. G. said it was near but not upon his prem- 
