MORE ABOUT THE FERNS OF DORSET. 



Mrs. Emily Hitchcock Terry. 



Several years ago, I wrote an article for The Fern 

 Bulletin concerning the ferns I had found during one 

 summer in Dorset, Vermont. I thought I had quite a 

 remarkable list of them ; but one is never at the end, so 

 far as ferns are concerned, in a place so favorable for. 

 their growth as Dorset. 



I then thought I had exhausted the subject, but last 

 August I found I was to be treated to some surprises, and 

 I hope, during the coming summer, to do still better. 

 Dorset is in a green valley, with mountains and high hills 

 surrounding it. There are streams, bogs, old pastures, 

 and deep, cold woods, where ferns delight to grow. 



On one point I was disappointed. The limestone 

 ledges do not yield the rare forms found in similar sit- 

 uations in the northern part of the State. I must make 

 one exception to that statement, however, as I found 

 plenty of Asplenium ruta — muraria on the ledges of Mt. 

 Eolus, about half way to the summit. PellcB gracilis is 

 found in several places where the rocks are wet, but 

 Pellce atropurpurca I searched for in vain. 



I was fortunate in finding the hybrid Nephrodium 

 cristatum x marginale ; also N. cristatum var. clintonia- 

 num forma Slossona, and rarest of all, Dicks onia pilosi- 

 uscula, forma schizophylla, which had only been reported 

 from one locality in Connecticut. 



My indefatigable companion in my hunting excursions, 

 was Mr. Allan Bourn, a recent member of the Chapter. 

 It was his first experience in real fern hunting, and his 

 enthusiasm was only second to my own. As his summer 

 home is in Dorset, he will be there early in the spring, 

 with enthusiasm which has been bottled up during the 

 winter, which I trust will lead to his finding some early 

 species, which I am never in season to get. These, with 

 our combined efforts in the later summer, I hope to 

 report next year. 



I will append a list of the ferns which I am now able 



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