—15— 



" Some Results of Fern-hunting in Ireland," "Fern Reproduc- 

 tion," "The Marvelous Side of Fern Life," "Ferns of the Dia- 

 mond Jubilee," " Weissmann's Theory of Heredity and its Rela- 

 tion to Fern Life," "Selective Culture," etc. These titles will 

 give some idea of the scope of the society, but one must read the 

 papers themselves to understand how widely the aims of fern stu- 

 dents in Europe differ from those in America. Here, the lovers 

 of ferns, led by our own Fern Chapter, are giving attention to the 

 life histories of the ferns, comparing forms as nature made them 

 discovering new stations in which they grow, and constantly in- 

 creasing our knowledge by contributing the facts brought out by 

 close and careful observation. In England, however, the interest 

 in ferns has developed along very different lines. Starting with 

 practically the same species that we have, their attention has been 

 given almost wholly to the development of varieties, or monstros- 

 ities, as we would be inclined to call them. This is carried so far that 

 an American student, although knowing the parent species well, 

 might be much perplexed to name its wonderful offspring, so chang- 

 ed is it in appearance. In justice to our British cousins it must be 

 said that the development of these varieties is not allowed to pro- 

 ceed hap-hazard, but all plants that do not come up to the proper 

 standard of excellence are ruthlessly weeded out. Many of the 

 forms are curious, some are beautiful and all are interesting, but 

 we are inclined, to think that in the study of our native ferns in 

 their haunts the American student has the best of it. 



NOTES. 



— The latest aspirant for favor among lovers of botany, The 

 Plant World, contains in its initial number an entertaining arti- 

 cle on " Ferns of the Yosemite and Neighboring Sierras," by S. 

 H. Burnham. The habitat and manner of growth of numerous 

 western ferns are given. 



— We have received from the author. Dr. A. J. Grout, a copy of 

 his ' ' Revision of the North American Isotheciacese and Brachy- 

 thecia." In this revision Dr. Grout has correlated and brought up 

 to date the recent work on the American species of this group of 

 mosses which before was scattered in various publications. The 

 habitat and distribution of each species receives considerable at- 

 tention and a number of excellent keys reduces to a minimum the 

 work of determining genera and species. 



