128 



THE FERN BULLETIN 



It is learned from the Annual Report of the Ameri- 

 can Fern Society that the "official organ" for 1911 cost 

 about seventy-five dollars more than it would have 

 cost, had the society not decided to permit its officers 

 to try their hands at amateur journalism. An asso- 

 ciation like the Fern Society could do a great deal to- 

 ward advancing fern study with that amount of money. 

 That it failed to do anything whatever in this respect 

 during the past year is possibly due to this lack of 

 funds. Strange that the officers should be so taken upp 

 with their new plaything as to forget that the members 

 expect something for their dues besides a publication 

 devoted almost exclusively to exotic ferns. If the 

 Society cannot get back to its former policy of doing 

 something in the fern line it is doomed — publication or 

 no publication. 



Range of Cystopteris. — The common bladder fern 

 (Cystopteris fragilis) is well known to be pretty widely 

 distributed over the earth. It is found in Japan, Cape 

 of Good Hope, India, Alaska, the West Indies and 

 nearly everywhere else except within the range of Brit- 

 ton's Manual where its place is taken by Filix fragilis. 

 Possibly the most northern station for it in the world 

 — certainly the northermost in America — is the one 

 recorded by the collectors of the Peary Arctic Expedi- 

 tion. They report it as growing at Etah in Greenland, 

 the last Esquimau settlement on the road to the Pole. 

 Etah is in 78° N. Latitude only twelve degrees from 

 the top of the world. Probably it grows still nearer 

 the Pole if there is anywhere suitable localities. Un- 

 like most ferns it seems able to adapt itself to all kinds 

 of climate, though in the tropics it does keep pretty well 

 to the cooler, mountainous country. It is one of the 

 first ferns to start into growth in spring and in many 

 districts it is practically evergreen. 



