—23— 



plant died, but of course no conclusion as to the relative hardi- 

 ness of the two species can be drawn from this ore instance. All 

 the other ferns growing with this plant— Cheilanthes lanosa, Pel- 

 lsea atropurpurea, P. hastata, Dryopteris acrostichoides, etc., 

 have bent over towards the window in order to get as much light 

 as possible but the Asplenium has adopted an entirely different 

 plan. Its fronds are spread out so that their upper surfaces are 

 perpendicular to the brightest rays of light. It is very interest 

 ing to see the largest frond growing back from the window at an 

 angle of about forty -five degrees 



Asplenium Bradleyi was first found in Tennessee, by Prof. 

 F. H. Bradley, where it was growing with A. ebeneum, A. pin- 

 natifidum and A. montanum on sandstone. It has since been 

 discovered in Kentucky. Arkansas. Xew York. Pennsylvania and 

 Maryland. At the Patapsco river it is found on gneiss. Some of 

 the best plants were growing in the cracks of a huge rocky wall 

 that was exposed to the sun from mid-day until sunset. Yet on 

 August 6th of last year, after a long drought, they were perfectly 

 fresh and green, and the spores were just ripening. Some heav- 

 ily fruited fronds were moisted and kept in the vasculum until 

 the next evening, when on exposing them to the air the sporangia 

 dried and opened in such rapid succession that a s'ight crackling 

 noise could be heard when the fronds were held up to the ear. 

 Unlike very many plants that grow in such exposed • situations 

 this fern has no scales or hairs covering the fronds, such as we 

 find in Cheilanthes lanosa; nor is there any great development of 

 the so-called " palisade tissue " of the ltaf. The cuticle is very 

 well developed however, and it is no doubt owing to this that the 

 plant is enabled to resist long periods of dry weather. 



Prof. Eaton suggested in his '-Ferns of North America " that 

 if there were a hybrid between A. ebeneum and A. montanum it 

 would probably closely resemble A. Bradleyi. It would lead us 

 too far to discuss this question of hybridity at present, especially 

 as no one now considers A. Bradleyi as a hybrid. Some of the 

 arguments in Prof. Mur rill's article in the January Bulletin on 

 A. ebenoides. might be advanced here. It is, however, interest- 

 ing to note that the stem of this fern is a sort of intermediate be- 

 tween its two closest allies. A. ebeneum has a brown stipe and 

 rachis, the latter grooved in front; the stipe is not grooved, or 

 noticeably flattened. The stems of the other two species have 

 already been spoken of. 



