States. C. fendleri Hook, is a species of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona 

 and Colorado. C. clevelandii D. C. Eaton was described from speci- 

 mens collected "on a mountain about forty miles from San Diego, 

 California," by Daniel Cleveland in 1874. The common form of our 

 mountains has been described as C. covillei Maxon, and ranges from 

 Lower California to Inyo Co., northern Arizona and Nevada fProc. 

 Viol. Soc. Wash. 31:139-152. 1918.). 



The fern commonly known among us as Pellaea ornithopus Hook. 

 is shown by Maxon (Pros. Biol. Soc. Wash. 30:179-184. 1917.) to 

 be P. mucronata D. C. Eaton. He also considers three species, hith- 

 erto passing loosely as P. wrightiana Hook., one of which, P. com- 

 pacta (Davenp.) Maxon, is found in our region, having been col- 

 lected in the San Jacinto, San Bernardino and San Antonio Mts. 



Our Californian Woodwardia should be known as W. chamissoi 

 Brack. W. radicans (L.) Sm. has been shown to be an Asiatic species, 

 and W. spinulosa Mart. & Gale., to which our fern has frequently 

 been referred, is a Mexican species which does not reach our borders. 

 The fronds in our species are stiffly ascending from an oblique or 

 erect rhizome while those of W. spinulosa are lax from a short-creep- 

 ing or decumbent rhizome. They also differ in the shape of the 

 blade, position of pinnae, the venation of the pinnules and the char- 

 acters of the indusia, according to Maxon (Am. Fern Jour. 9:68-69. 

 1919.). 



There has been considerable controversy among systematists as 

 to the proper generic mane for our shield ferns. Nieuwland has 

 shown (Am. Mid. Nat. 1:226, 1910, quoted by Weatherby, Rhodora 

 21:174, 1919) that Thelypteris Schmidel, pubhshed in 1762 with 

 three or four pages of description and comment and two very excel- 

 lent plates, is the earliest valid name for the genus. It becomes nec- 

 essary, therefore, to transfer two of our species that have not, so far 

 as I can learn, been properly named. 

 Thelypteris normalis (C. Chr.) new comb. 



Dryopteris normalis C. Chr. This is the plant heretofore referred 



to D. patens (Swz.) ktze. 

 Thelypteris arguta (Kaulf.) new comb. 



Dryopteris arguta (Kaulf.) Watt. 



Aspidium argutum Kaulf. 



57 



