205 



determine by merely passing through on a fast train, but it seems 

 likely that the land is a little too flat and wet for the best devel- 

 opment of Pimis palnstris and a little too dry and perhaps not 

 sandy enough for Pimis Elliottii to grow well, and that no other 

 trees have happened to gain a foothold. The winds from the 

 nearby Gulf may have something to do with keeping the pines 

 down to a uniform height. 



In the southeastern part of Jackson County, near the Ala- 

 bama line, Taxodium imbricarium is quite common in ponds. 

 Before making this trip I had no definite information as to its oc- 

 currence farther west than Alabama, except Dr. Hiigard's men- 

 tion of cypress ponds in the maritime counties of Mississippi.* 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE OCCURRENCE OF BOOTT'S 



FERN 



By Philip Dowei.l 



These observations are quite limited, both in regard to the time 

 and the area covered, more limited than might be desired for pub- 

 lication, but they may serve to bring out others more exhaustive 

 and thus help to further our knowledge of the origin and distribu- 

 tion of Dryopteris Boottii (Tuckerm.) Underw. They are re- 

 corded now partly in response to an appeal made in the Firn 

 Biiilt'tin by Professor K. B. Klugh for further information in line 

 with his own observations on this fern.t Speaking of the occur- 

 rence of the fern in Ontario he says : "It never occurs in any 

 abundance, most usually in a single plant . . . it is exactly in- 

 termediate between its possible parents . . ." 



I find no record of the fern having been found on Staten Island 

 before 1903, when a single clump of three plants was found in a 

 woodland swamp near South Avenue. This is a remnant of vir- 

 gin forest and is a favorable place for the Goldie, Clinton, crested, 



*Op. cit., pp. 367,368. The " long- leaf pine" mentioned by Dr. Hilgard as 

 growing in the same ponds is of course Finns Elliottii, which was not recognized as 

 distinct until twenty years later. 



^ Fern Bulletin 13: 86. Jl 1905. 14: 70. Jl 1906. 



