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meeting of such scope as to include all students of ferns, the editor 

 has pleasantly in mind two smaller meetings in which he was one 

 of a party of Chapter members to meet for discussion of our favor- 

 ite plants. The practice is to be commended to those who live in 

 sections where there are several fern students, and we hope to 

 have many reports of such meetings. 



* 



In this number we publish an account of a new locality for 

 the hart's- tongue fern by the author of " How to Know the Wild- 

 flowers." Although the station has been known for less than three 

 months, the finders already have cause to regret that a knowledge 

 of the location was made public. The vandal who delights to 

 uproot and carry away specimens because they are rare has begun 

 work in the new station, where, unfortunately, the ferns are not 

 protected as they are at Chittenango Falls. Destructiveness 

 seems to be one of the characteristics of uncivilized man that is 

 most difficult to eradicate. Until the race reaches a point where 

 it can enjoy and not destroy, plant lovers must use every precau- 

 tion to prevent the extermination of our rarer species. 



* 



One of our most pleasant experiences this season was the 

 finding of Schizrea pusilla in its New Jersey haunts. After one 

 has spent some time in the "pine barrens" in -which it grows, he 

 is likely to become impressed with the idea that the fern is com- 

 moner than the books would have it. Apparently it requires no 

 unusual conditions for growth — we found it about the knolls in 

 a half-dry swamp — but its size renders it very easy to overlook. 

 When one knows just where to search and what to search for, the 

 finding is much easier. It may take some time to find the first 

 specimen, even in places where it is known to grow, but after that 

 the eye becomes marvelously quickened, and the fruiting spikes 

 like tiny fists appear in many places in the shade of other vegeta- 

 tion. We could have collected a hundred plants in half an hour, 

 but forbore to contribute to its destruction. 



* * 



A new station for Dryopteris simulata was discovered by the 

 editor at Babylon, N. Y., in September. This seems to be the 

 first recorded station for the fern on Long Island. It grew in 

 great quantities in a shaded, swampy piece of ground. Our quest 

 was for fertile fronds of Woodwardia areolata, whose sterile fronds 

 abound in the locality, but the new fern attracted attention at 



