THE POLYPODIES. 
HE polypodies belong to 
the largest of the fern 
families. There are nearly 
four hundred species in 
the world, mostly in the 
Tropics. Only five species 
extend into northeastern 
America, and three of 
these are considered by 
many botanists to belong 
to a closely allied genus 
which they name Phegop- 
teris. This name, it may 
be said, was once the name 
of a section of the genus 
Phegopteris Dryopleris. Polypodium and those who 
call our plants species of Phegopteris, simply consider 
this section worthy of generic rank. As in the true poly- 
podies, the fruit dots are without indusia of any kind but 
the phegopterids differ in having the fruit on the dacks 
of the veins while in the Polypodiums they are on the 
ends. In Polypodium, too, the stipes are jointed to the 
rootstock, while in Phegopter7s,as in most of ourcommon 
ferns, they are not. Pkhegopteris is also very closely al- 
lied to the wood fern genus, differing principally in the 
lack of an indusium. In habit, also, the species are much 
like the wood ferns and it is probable that they will 
