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lich. A few years ago when I was making a study of the 

 varieties of A. fili-v-fa-mina. in this country and had all 

 the material of this species from the seven largest 

 herbaria in America in my hands. I found that the only 

 one which contained the variety pectiiiatum was that of 

 Columbia University. This collection contained two 

 sheets of the variety from Southern Italy. The variety 

 was so distinct that there was no difficulty in recognizing 

 it. and fortunately I found specimens in the same col- 

 lection from two localities in this country. One of these 

 stations was Blackwater Falls. West Virginia, where it 

 was collected by C. F. Millspaugh in 1891. The other 

 station was Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina, 

 where Small and Heller gathered it in the same year. 

 Correspondence with both of these parties showed that 

 their collections of 1891 had all been distributed long 

 before, and I was unable to add the variety to my own 

 collection. But in Tune, IQ03, among a lot of ferns sent 

 to me by Dr. C. E. Waters, of Baltimore. Maryland, I 

 was delighted to find a fine specimen of pectinatum gath- 

 ered in low. damp woods at Glyndon, Baltimore County, 

 Maryland. When I wrote him about it he answered : 

 " Xo one with an eye out for ferns could have gone by 

 that pectinatum. ... It was the most beautiful 

 fili.v-fa-mina I have ever seen." 



It seems desirable that a description of the variety as 

 represented in America should be put on record for the 

 benefit of those who may desire to recognize it. I give 

 the main points, taken from Dr. Waters' specimen, which 

 is nearly twice as large as those in the Columbia 

 herbarium. Stipe 43 centimeters long, dark at base, 

 deeply channelled and sparsely covered with light-brown 

 lanceolate scales nearly 2 centimeters' long : rachis not 

 heavy for the size of fern but very flexuose : lamina 68 

 centimeters long. 50 centimeters wide : internodes of 

 pinna? about 7 centimeters long : pinnae shortly petiolate 

 25 centimeters long in center of frond. 8 centimeters 

 wide, nearly opposite below : alternate above, practically 

 bipinnate. although there is a narrow wing running all 



