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all our students of ferns. Ophioglossum Engelmanni, Prantl, was 

 described from Texas and Arizona, and it has been found by var- 

 ious collectors in Missouri, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky and 

 Tennessee, Indiana and Virginia, as well as lower California. 

 Ophioglossum Californicum, Prantl, has thus far been collected 

 from only two localities in Mexico and Lower California besides 

 the type locality at San Diego, California, where it was originally 

 discovered by Dr. C. C. Parry. 



Some specimens collected by L. M. Turner on Unalaska Id. 

 Alaska, have also proved to be different from O. vulgatum, by 

 which name they were distributed, and have been called (J. Alas- 

 kanum, n. sp. 



There has been much confusion as to the name which 

 should be used for the smallest species of the genus which we 

 have been calling O. nudicaule, L. This name belongs to an Af- 

 rican species and Prantl enumerates five authors who have ap- 

 plied the name to seven different species, ours being O. nudi- 

 caule of Sturm in part. Prantl concluded to call it by a manu- 

 script name of Mettenius, O. tenerum, but from notes by J. H. 

 Redfield in the Eaton Herbarium, and the text as given in Nut- 

 tail's genera, it seems plain enough that O. pusillum, Nutt. 1818, 

 is the name which belorgs to the species of our Southern States. 



A revision of the genus with descriptions, plates and full cita- 

 tions of localities appears in the December number of the Bulletin 

 of the Torrey Botanical Club. I wish here, to thank Mr. Alvah 

 A. Eaton, Mr. Stewart H. Burnham and Miss Sadie F. Price, 

 whose interesting notes in the Fern Bi lletix for 'October, 1896, 

 led me to write to them for further information, and who have 

 generously contributed specimens and notes which have been, 

 very useful. It is most important to note the habit and peculiar- 

 ity of place of growth in collecting specimens, as they exert a 

 great influence on the character of the variations. Mr. Burnham,, 

 particularly, has sent me a most interesting chronological series,, 

 beginning in May and extending through August, all from the 

 same locality at different stations. His specimens show a great 

 variation, and it would be very interesting to know if other col- 

 lectors and readers of the Bulletin have found similar varieties. 

 The specimens which Miss Price described from dry, open woods 

 and cedar groves at Bowling Green, Kentucky, have proved to be 

 O. Engelmanni, though she has also found O. vulgatum at the 

 same locality. We shall await with interest further notes and ob- 

 servations from the readers of this journal. 



