—61— 



turned parallel to the earth ; between them, on the upper side of 

 the stem, are the two rows of smaller, differently shaped leaves 

 (fig. 2). The stems of the creeping Selaginella seldom get more 

 than half an inch from the soil, and at every point where they 

 branch, there also goes down a system of roots, something after 

 the manner of the club mosses. These roots are apparently ex- 

 cellent examples of dichotomous branching, but according to 

 Campbell's "Mosses and Ferns" they are really monopodial. 

 The fruiting spikes are generally rather erect and obscurely four 

 angled. In the axils of the upper leaves are borne round spore- 

 cases containing numerous microspores, while the lower produces 

 larger spore- cases containing three or more macrospores. 



SELAGINELLA APUS. 



Fig. i— Part of plant, natural size. Fig. 2— Section of stem, enlarged. 

 Fig. 3— Fruiting spike. Fig. 4 — Leaf from spike with macrosporange con- 

 taining macrospores. 



The books unite in saying that Selaginella apus is an annual, 

 but from the fact that strong, thrifty plants are found as soon as 

 the snow disappears, this seems to be an error. The genus Selag- 

 inella contains upwards of three hundred species, mostly in the 

 warmer parts of the globe. Of the present species, Baker's 

 " Fern Allies " says " it is a representative in the temperate zone 

 of a characteristically tropical group."— Willard N. Clute. 



Mr. F. Peyton Rous adds to the list of common names for 

 Scolopendrium, that of "caterpillar fern," which he finds in a 

 Botany by Mrs. Lincoln Phelps, published in 1854. 



