—31— 



in the Botanical Gazette for November, 1896, as follows : " Spo- 

 rophyte with fleshy roots from which rises a short common stalk 

 1.5 cm or less high, bearing a nearly sessile, broadly triangular, 

 ternately compound leaf 8 to 10 cm wide, 5 cm long ; middle divi- 

 sion slightly larger than the lateral ones and like them nearly bi- 

 pinnate : ultimate divisions somewhat Innate, usually not exceed- 

 ing 5 to 6 mm in width, the outer margin crenulate, the lateral 

 margins decurrent into the short branches of the rachis : sporo- 

 phyll on a rather stout slightly elongate stalk (8 cm or more long), 

 bipinnate, with a rather broad rachis : spores pale alutaceous, 39 

 to 44 u in diameter : bud for the succeeding year enclosed in the 

 base of the common stalk, smooth, the segments erect or with 

 the apices barely incurved. Spores maturing in early spring (Feb- 

 ruary or March in the latitude of southern and central Alabama)." 

 It is remarkable that this species which fruits early in the season 

 should have been so long confounded with B. ternatum since the 

 latter is found in the same localities and does not fruit before 

 August. The writer further says : "The species is readily dis- 

 guished from B. ternatum by its nearly sessile and more com- 

 pound sterile leaf, as w T ell as by the form of its ultimate divisions 

 which are distinctly rounded and short, lacking the character- 

 istic long, more or less pointed form, common to that species." 



THE LINN/EAN FERN CHAPTER 



OF THE AQASS1Z ASSOCIATION. 



President, C. E. Waters, Baltimore, Md. 



Vice-President, Mks. A, D. Dean, Scranton, Pa. 



Secretary, Alvah A. Eaton, Seabrook, N. H 



Treasurer, Jas. A. Graves, Susquehanna. Pa. 



Fern lovers are cordially inviied to join the Chapter. Active member- 

 ship costs $i.oo annually; Associate, 50c. This journal is sent to both classes 

 free. Application for membership should be made to either President or 

 Secretary. 



Items for this department should be sent to Mr. C. E. Waters. Johns Hop- 

 kins U ni;>ersity, Baltimore, Md. 



—Some misunderstanding has arisen regarding the statement 

 in the January Bulletin that a copy of Dodge's " Ferns and 

 Fern Allies of New England" would be sent to members of the 

 Chapter. It was not intended to offer this as an inducement for 

 others to join, but was simply for those loyal members who have 

 stood by the Chapter when it needed assistance. We could not 

 in any event give new associate members a subscription to this 

 journal and the book for fifty cents. It has been decided, how- 



