176 



The Habitat of the slender Cliff-brake. — In the last two 

 numbers of The Fern Bulletin, reports have been published of the 

 occurrence of the slender cliff-brake \Cryptogramma Stelleri 

 (S. G. Gmel.) Prantl, Pellaea gracilis (Michx.) Beddome] on 

 sandstone rocks, and the editor comments that it seems not 

 to have been collected previously from other than limestone 

 rocks. I think that it will be found that this fern grows not 

 infrequently on other than limestone formations here in the East. 

 The most luxuriant and abundant growth that I have ever seen was 

 in Au Sable Chasm, New York, where it is found on a strongly 

 siliceous sandstone with no limestone in the vicinity. There are 

 at least two stations for this fern in the region of Mount Mans- 

 field, Vermont, where the rocks are almost entirely gneissoid in 

 character. In 1896 I found it in Nebraska Notch, and last year 

 Mr. W. R. Davis, of Boston, collected it on Sterling Mountain. 

 At St. Johnsbury it grows on a mica-schist formation far removed 

 from limestone ; the rock is considerably eroded, and more soil 

 surrounds the plants than at any other station known to me. In 

 August I collected this fern also on mica schist in Quechee Gulf, 

 a remarkable gorge in the town of Hartford, Vermont, which is 

 perhaps most noteworthy from a botanical standpoint for pro- 

 ducing Woodsia glabella and W. alpina at the elevation of no 

 more than four hundred feet above sea level. 



St. Johnsbury, Vt. Tracy E. HAZEN. 



NEWS ITEMS 



The International Conference on Plant Breeding and Hybridi- 

 zation held at New York from September 30 to October 2, 

 brought to the city a large number of botanists and horticultur- 

 ists. Among the distinguished foreigners present were Mr. W. 

 Bateson from Cambridge, England ; Daniel Morris, Imperial 

 Commissioner of Agriculture for the British Colonies at Barba- 

 does ; Hon. William Fawcett, Director of the government plan- 

 tations in Jamaica ; and Mr. George Nicholson, curator of Kew 

 Gardens, England. Papers were presented by Professor L. H. 

 Bailey, O. F. Cook, W. M. Hays, S. A. Beach, T. V. Munson, 

 William Saunders, and others ; the program was especially inter- 

 esting and provoked much discussion of the mutation theory. 



