THE FERN BULLETIN 



59' 



Affinities of Taenitis. — The genus Taenitis is 

 one that has always puzzled botanists. It was once 

 placed in the tribe Grammitideae along with such 

 genera as Notholacna, Brainera, Mcniscum, Vittaria, 

 Hemionitis and Drymoglossum, and it has also been 

 considered sufficiently distinct to stand as the type of 

 a tribe named for it, while recently it has been con- 

 sidered as a member of the tribe Polypodieae. Now 

 comes E. B. Copeland in the Philippine Journal of 

 Science and gives the genus another turn and this 

 time places it in the Davallieae largely upon the re- 

 lationship shown by the internal structure of the stem 

 and the character of the scaly covering. It is likely 

 that the new manipulator of the genus is as near right 

 as anybody. The main thing is to discover what are 

 the real indications of relationships. With some stu- 

 dents it is venation, with others the shape and posi- 

 tion of the indusium, with others the character of the 

 vestiture and still others may have other rules by 

 which to judge. When we agree upon the proper ear- 

 marks anybody ought to be able to put the ferns in 

 their proper groups. 



Sporophyll Zones. — The fact is well known that 

 some of the club-mosses, notably the shining club moss 

 (Lycopodium lucidulum) and the fir club-moss (L. 

 Selago), bear their sporangia in bands or zones that 

 alternate with regions on the stem in which there are 

 no sporophylls, but it does not seem to be equally well 

 recognized that the same phenomena are found pretty 

 generally among the ferns. If one will examine the 

 crowns of the cinnamon fern, it will be readily seen that 

 sporophylls and vegetative leaves form alternating cir- 

 cles. Curiously enough, the fertile fronds, which ap- 

 pear at maturity within the circle of sterile leaves, re- 



