1896.] Botany. 751 
not a few ignore the books, and mature their fruit before they are eight 
inches tall; indeed, some very saucy specimens refuse to grow beyond 
a single inch, and scatter their spores to the winds in spite of their 
insignificant size. 
The two ferns named above are to be found in most of the shady 
cafions near Colorado Springs, but Asplenium trichomanes I have found 
only in one place in South Cheyenne canon, while A. septentrionale has 
not been seen outside of the beautiful gulch in the Ute Pass, from which 
the city of Manitou obtains its water supply. All the lower canons of 
the Ute Pass would be rich fields for the botanist if the vandal tourist 
could be kept out of them ; as it is, there are still a few treasures left on 
the high rocks and in out of the way corners. Here Phegopteris dry- 
opteris flourishes and Cystopteris runs riot. 
The two Botrychiums were found ia North Cheyenne Cañon, B. vir- 
ginianum four, and A. matricariaefolium eight miles from the mouth 
of the cañon. Naturally, such fleshy ferns are seldom found in the dry 
atmosphere of Colorado, yet, in the one station where found, B. matri- 
cariaefolium was quite plentiful, and varied in form from a simplex-like 
plant of two inches to beautiful specimes nine inches high. 
Of Cystopteris fragilis Eaton wisely wrote “very variable.” The 
same might well be written of the whole genus so far as Colorado is 
concerned. It is the most abundant fern on Cheyenne Mountain, and 
there flourishes with little regard for the specific fences within which 
the books expect it to grow. I have not included C. montana (Lam.) 
Bernh. in the above list, because specimens found are hardly as broad 
as the typical form that species demands, while too broad to be classed 
as O. fragilis. The C. bulbifera found is without bulbs, but otherwise 
conforms to the books. The “ winged ” or “ wingless rachis” of the 
books is not an unfailing test in differentiating the Colorado species of 
this genus, a microscopical examination of the indusium being necessary. 
But if the Colorado Cystopteris is “ very variable” what shall I say of 
Woodsia? I have entered W. scopulina, W. obtusa and W. oregona on the 
above list, because from the large amount of material on hand it is easy to 
select specimens which exactly conform to the species type in the books. 
I believe also that some specimens answering to W. mexicana might be 
selected, while a few would almost pass for W. alpina. But when this 
has been done what are we to call the still larger number of specimens, 
which are not exactly W. scopulina, nor W. oregona, nor W. mezicana, 
nor W. obtusa? Shall we say they are Woodsia, simply Woodsia, and 
nothing more? It seems to me that in this genus there is work wait- 
ing to be done of the same wise sort that Mr. George E. Davenport 
did some years ago in the genus Botrychium—A.rorp A. BUTLER. 
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