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The Fern Chapter has cause for congratulation. In January 

 it passed the hundred mark in membership, and is fast making 

 progress toward a second hundred. So far as the editor is aware, 

 there is only one other strictly botanical society in America that 

 exceeds it in numbers. 



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We are indebted to the courtesy of the Bulletin of the Torry 

 Botanical Club for the illustration which appears as the frontis- 

 piece of this number. It presents a view of the newly discovered 

 Ophioglossum arenarium, which was described in that journal by 

 Mrs. Britton last December. 



* 



Our thanks are due Dr. P. Magnus of the University of Ber- 

 lin, Berlin, Germany, for several interesting publications received, 

 Dr. Magnus is especially interested in rusts, and has published a 

 paper on a new genus of rusts discovered by himself on Phegop- 

 teris. He is at present giving much attention to fern rusts, and 

 if any of our readers chance to find fronds attacked by rust, it 

 will please Dr. Magnus very much to receive specimens. 



* # 



If one is studying ferns for the mere beauty of form which 

 they present, he may take the view of the case adopted by Mr. 

 Druery in this number. The contention of the person who is 

 studying ferns scientifically is apt to be, that, at their best, the 

 majority of British forms are mere varieties of species. We can 

 well see how one might admire them in the conservatory or fern 

 garden, and yet pass them by when studying ferns a-field. The 

 study of varieties may teach us something of the way in which 

 forms originate, but there are a hundred and one questions in 

 fern study which can only be answered by close observation of 

 the species themselves. 



NOTES. 



— The Asa Gray Bulletin which is advertised in combination 

 with the Fern Bulletin in this issue, is doing for flowering plants 

 what this journal is trying to do for ferns, and should be in the li- 

 brary of all who are interested in general botany. No subscription 

 at the combination rate will be received unless the sender is a 

 new subscriber to one or both journals. 



