26 



THE FERN BULLETIN 



Selaginella opus. South side of Deep River, New 

 Chicago, Lake county. 



Azolla caroliniana. Stark county, in coves or quiet 

 waters of Kankakee river. South end of English 

 Lake, at the crossing of the Erie railroad about four 

 miles west. Was collected in abundance in 1894. 



Chicago, III. 



PTERIDOGRAPHIA 



New Panama Club Mosses. — In "Smithsonian 

 Miscellaneous Collections" volume 5G, number 29, W. 

 R. A I axon has described and illustrated three new club 

 mosses from Panama. A single glance at the illustra- 

 tions shows that these are club-mosses by courtesy 

 only, that is, they do not belong to that group of Lyco- 

 podiums that bear their sporangia in club-like spikes, 

 but are instead more nearly allied to species like Lyco- 

 podium lucidulum in which the sporangia 'are borne in 

 axils of leaves that are otherwise much like those de- 

 voted to vegetative functions. A considerable number 

 of tropical Ly cop odiums are of this type, but unlike 

 more northern species they grow on the trunks and 

 branches of trees instead of on the ground. The mosj 

 interesting of the recently described species is L 

 sta milieu in which has leaves scarcely wider than 

 threads. 



Filmy Ferns in Dry Regions. — The Hymeno- 

 phyllaceae or filmy fern family received both its scien- 

 tific and common names on account of the diaphanous 

 fronds of the various species which in most cases are 

 only a single cell thick and entirely devoid of the water 

 proof epidermis that protects other ferns from evapora- 

 tion. As a result of such structure, the filmy ferns 

 rarely grow to any considerable size, and in general 



