266 Proceedings of the Ohio State Academy of Science. 



catalog, the following deserve special mention : John L. Riddell, 

 Wm. S. Sullivant, Thos. G. Lea, Joseph Clark, J. S. Newberry, 

 H. C. Beardslee, A. P. Morgan, Joseph F. James, Herbert L. 

 Jones, E. L. Moseley, Wm. A. Kellerman, and Lewis S. Hop- 

 kins. Many other botanists have contributed either directly or 

 indirectly to the knowledge of Ohio Pteridophytes, and the 

 names of those who' have presented specimens to the collection 

 now in the State Herbarium would make a very extensive list. 



Our forefathers considered ferns to be mysterious and un- 

 canny things. They could not quite comprehend what seemed 

 to be real plants without flowers or seeds. Thus many super- 

 stitions arose, the chief one of which, perhaps, was in regard 

 to fern seed. It was supposed that the fern seed could be ob- 

 tained only on the night of St. John's Eve, the 24th of June. 

 Those who went to obtain the seed took a white cloth along in 

 which to catch it. In some parts the fern seed was supposed 

 to be in the keeping of the devil and could be obtained from him 

 only at midnight. In some parts of England the general name 

 for ferns was devil's bushes. On the night of St. John's Eve 

 all the hosts of Elfland were also abroad in their greatest power. 

 The fern would then produce a small blue flower at dusk and the 

 wonderful seed would be ripe and fall from the plant at mid- 

 night. The fern seed was said to insure good luck. It would 

 confer on one the strength of thirty or forty men. Another 

 property was that it would enable the possessor to discover hid- 

 den treasure and to unlock anything that required opening. The 

 sap of a plant from which fern seed is obtained would confer on 

 the person taking the draft the blessing of eternal youth. 



But the greatest property of all which the magic seed pos- 

 sessed was that by it one mig'ht become invisible. There is, 

 however, no authentic record of anyone thus becoming invisible 

 by its aid, so fern seed must have been about as scarce then as 

 it is at present. This belief in the power of the fern seed to 

 make men invisible arose in the age when the doctrine of sig- 

 natures was taught and believed. Nature in giving particular 



