FERNS AS A HOBBY 



wildest ravines may hope to extend his list into the 

 forties. 



During the past year several lists of the ferns found 

 on a single walk or within a certain radius have 

 been published in the Fern Bulletin, leading to some 

 rivalry between fern students who claim precedence 

 for their pet localities. 



Mr. Underwood has found twenty-seven species 

 within the immediate vicinity of Green Lake, Onon- 

 daga County, N. Y., and thirty-four species within 

 a circle whose diameter is not over three miles. 



Mrs. E. H. Terry, on a two-hours' walk near 

 Dorsqt, Vt., did still better. She found thirty-three 

 species and four varieties, while Miss Margaret 

 Slosson has broken the record by finding thirty-nine 

 species and eight varieties, near Pittsford, Rutland 

 County, Vt., within a triangle formed by " the end 

 of a tamarack swamp, a field less than a mile away, 

 and some limestone cliffs three miles from both 

 the field and the end of the swamp." 



Apart from the interest of extending one's list of 

 fern acquaintances is that of discovering new sta- 

 tions for the rarer species. It was my good fortune 

 last summer to make one of a party which found 

 a previously unknown station for the rare Hart's 

 Tongue, and 1 felt the thrill of excitement which 

 attends such an experience. The other day, in 

 looking over Torrey's " Flora of New York," I 

 noticed the absence of several ferns now known to 

 be natives of this State. When the fern student 

 realizes the possibility which is always before him 



II 



