^^ The Vilest American Scientist. 



Second — Ontario and Western Quebec. 



Third — The Great Plains, north to the Arctic Circle. 



Fo2irth — Rocky Mountains. 



Fifth — British Columbia. 



The species and varieties found in the dififerent areas are, in the 

 first, fifty-four; in the second, fifty- five; in the third, thirty-one; 

 in the fourth, twenty- seven, and in the fifth, thirty-one. 



The general remarks and explanation of the development of 

 ferns are very interesting. Then follows a 'Synopsis of Genera' 

 from 'Eaton's Ferns of North America,' so far as the same is 

 applicable to Canadian species. 



The description of species are comprehensive, and the refer- 

 ences to other publications quite extensive, while the book is 

 filled with interesting remarks on the species and varieties, and 

 notes of localities where found, with the names of the collec- 

 tors, and altogether is one of the finest additions to fern literature 

 which has come under our observation. 



Ferns are generally considered as having no commercial value, 

 but these authors, in connection with the description of Pteris 

 aquilina (the common brake or braken), one ot the most univer- 

 sally distributed of all ferns say, 'that, no other fern possesses so 

 much economic value as Pteris aquilina, the young fronds and 

 root-stalks have been used as food by the inhabitants of different 

 countries, and the dried fronds, chopped up with hay or straw, 

 are, in Wales, given as fodder to horses; the ashes, which con- 

 tain a large amount of alkali, have been used by glass-makers, 

 and in Switzerland the potash is extracted for commercial pur- 

 poses; the plant has been employed for thaching, also for fuel, 

 and as packing material for fruits; while in medicine the root is, 

 by some, considered extremely valuable as a vermifuge.' 



In a supplementary article, published in the transactions ol the 

 same society, in 1886, Dr. Burgess gives some important recent 

 additions to the list of the recorded Canadian species and varieties. 



Adiantum pedatum, L. variety rangiferinun. Burgess, so- 

 called from the resemblance of the pinnules to the horns of the 

 reindeer, discovered near Victoria, British Columbia. 



Aspidium aculeatum Swz. variety lobatum, Kze. ; British 

 Columbia. 



Aspidium oreopteris, Swz. British Columbia. 



Two varieties of Botrychium ternatum, var. , from Rupert 

 River, N. E. Terr. var. Anstrale, from Vancouver's Island, B. C. 



Onoclea sensibilis, L. variety obtusilobata, Tarr. from New 

 Brunswick. 



Polypodium vulgare, L. variety Cambricum, Willd. (the P. 

 Cambricum L.) British Columbia. 



Scolopendrium vulgare Sm. var. marginatum, Moore, variety 

 ramosum, Gray; and var. multifidum, Gray. The last are from 

 New Brunswick. Lorenzo G. Yates. 



Santa Barbara, Cal., February, 1888. 



