THE FERN BULLETIN 



119 



Some Curious Nomenclature. — In Gray's "New 

 Manual of Botany" a form of Goldies fern found in the 

 Dismal Swamp some time ago by William Palmer is 

 listed as Aspidium G oldie anum var celsum (Palmer) 

 Robinson. The excuse for attaching the last name to 

 the author-citation is difficult to discover. Several 

 years ago the combination of Aspidium G oldie anum 

 forma celsum was made by another author and the 

 only reason, if reason there be. for attaching the second 

 name to this string of latin words is that the word 

 variety is used instead of form. There is absolutely 

 no exact botanical definition of either form or variety 

 extant. Either one ma}- represent any grade of varia- 

 tion less than a species, in fact the two words are practi- 

 cally synonymous, and instances are plentiful in the 

 volume cited where variety is used for a mere ecologi- 

 cal form and form for a well-marked subdivision of a 

 species. The only difference between the two concep- 

 tions that we can see. is that one should always use 

 variety if it will get one's name into the combination. 



Botyrychium dichroxum. — In an article dealing 

 with the Ophioglossaceae in the May Torrcya, R. C. 

 Benedict continues the error made by L. M. Under- 

 wood in reference to the Jamaican form of Botrychium 

 Virginianum. Relying upon the fact that the sterile 

 portion of this plant survives the winter in the mild 

 climate of that tropical island. Underwood made it a 

 distinct species. Jenman. whose work on the Jamaican 

 ferns was most painstaking, overlooked a most import- 

 ant fact in the life history of this plant and writes of it 

 "There are two fronds to each plant, one without and 

 the other with the fertile division. * * * the fronds 

 perish after fruiting." It remained for the editor of 



