May 24, 1901.] 
greatest importance, viz.: death canas (Zyga- 
denus venenosus), larkspurs (Delphinium of two 
species), water hemlock (Cicuta occidentalis), 
loco weeds (Aragallus sp.) and lupines (Lu- 
pinus sp.). The first is said to be the most im- 
portant of all the plants reputed to be poisonous 
to stock in Montana. It grows everywhere in 
Montana in moderately moist places on open 
ranges, and outside of the State is found from 
British Columbia to South Dakota, Nebraska, 
Utah and California. Feeding experiments 
show that both leaves and bulbs are poisonous. 
Two species of larkspurs(D. glaucum and D. 
bicolor) have attracted the most attention, al- 
though other species are more or less under 
suspicion. The foliage is the poisonous part in 
these plants. Water hemlock is usually known 
as ‘wild parsnip’ and is commonly supposed 
to be the garden parsnip run wild, an error, of 
course. The roots and foliage are poisonous, 
and cases of poisoning of cattle, sheep and even 
human beings are reported. This species is 
very much like the eastern (C. maculata) in ap- 
pearance and action. The loco weeds affect 
animals quite similarly to the related plants 
called loco weeds on the Great Plains. The 
species of most importance is Aragallus spicatus 
which is closely related to A. lamberti of the 
Missouri Valley. Several pretty species of lu- 
pines (Lupinus) are shown to be poisonous. 
These are locally known as blue peas, blue 
beans, wild peas, wild beans, etc., and in 
spite of their pretty flowers are to be placed 
among the noxious plants. The report devotes 
about a dozen pages to poisonous plants of less 
importance, about as many to suspected plants, 
and closes with a discussion of some species 
which have been wrongly accused of possessing 
poisonous properties. Thirty-six plates help 
to make this a very valuable and useful report. 
NORTH AMERICAN 
ABOUT twenty years ago Professor Under- 
wood issued a little book on the ferns of the 
country, which has proved to be so useful that it 
has been revised again and again, its latest 
title (sixth edition) being ‘Our Native Ferns 
and their Allies.’ From time to time it has 
undergone considerable changes at the hands of 
its author, and in its latest form this is most 
FERNWORTS. 
SCIENCE. 
833 
marked. Here the results of the latest studies 
both in morphology and nomenclature have 
been used to such an extent that the old-time 
fern collector will often find himself somewhat 
dazed and confused, unless he has kept himself 
well informed as to the tendencies of these later 
years. Thus to find the common brake under 
the name of Pteridium aquilinum instead of 
Pteris aquilina ; to find Phyllitis substituted for 
Scolopendrium; Dryopteris and Polystum for 
Aspidium; Filix for Cystopteris ; Matteuccia for 
Struthiopteris ; and Dennstaedtia for Dicksonia, 
is disquieting for the botanist who learned about 
ferns twenty or more years ago. It shakes one’s 
faith in the immutability of things to find old 
friends under unfamiliar names. For the peace 
of mind of such persons it would be well not to 
buy the later editions of systematic books, for 
in all of them—even the most conservative— 
we find many of these tiresome changes. 
In a recent paper (‘A List of the Ferns and 
Fern-Allies of North America north of Mexico, 
with principal Synonyms and Distribution’) 
published by William R. Maxon in the Proceed- 
ings of the United States National Museum 
(Vol. XXIII.) our information as to the Fern- 
worts of North America is considerably aug- 
mented. Whilein Professor Underwood’s book 
the total number of entries is 279, Mr. Maxon 
brings them up in his list to 307. This increase 
is mostly due to the separate recognition and 
enumeration of varieties, and in part to the ad- 
dition of new species and varieties. Among the 
new species are Polypodium hesperum, from west- 
ern United States; Adiantum modestum from 
New Mexico; Dryopteris aquilonaris from 
Alaska ; Isoetes heterospora and I. hieroglyphica 
from Maine ; J. harveyi from Maine and Massa- 
chusetts ; I. gravesii from Connecticut, besides 
about as many more new varieties. <Athyriwm 
is given generic rank and separated from As-_ 
plenium, carrying with it the species thelypte- 
roides, filix-foemina and cyclosorum. The syn- 
onymy is considerably fuller than in Professor 
Underwood’s book, and the ranges are often 
modified and extended. We note still the omis- 
sion of Unalaska as one of the stations for Adi- 
antum capillus-veneris, although specimens are 
in herbaria which were collected on that island 
many years ago. The ranges of Lycopodium 
