THE FERN BULLETIN 



11 



years these are as follows : 1902, 4:25 ; 1903, 434 ; 1904, 

 516; 1905, 460; 1906, 430; 1907, 447; 1908, 462; 

 1909, 465. The country most prolific in publications 

 on ferns is Germany. Twice, however, in 1907 and 

 1908, America has lead in the production of fern litera- 

 ture but in 1909 the palm went back to Germany. As 

 might be assumed, the bulk of the articles published 

 deal with ecology, taxonomy and distribution. More 

 than half of the total are on these subjects. 



A New Equisetum. — In a recent number of the 

 Ohio Naturalist John H. Schaffner describes a new 

 species of Equisetum from Kansas. This is said to be 

 an annual species, that is, the aerial stems do not sur- 

 vive the winter, but in other respects it is closely al- 

 lied to E. hyemale. In this connection the late A. A. 

 Eaton's statement that one might pick out a series of 

 closely connected specimens from the largest to the 

 smallest species is especially pertinent. There is no 

 doubt that the group of plants which we have long 

 called Equisetum hyemale consist, either of several 

 species as the world now regards species, or else the 

 species itself is extremely variable. The plants once 

 .eferred to Equisetum robust urn are now considered 

 only a large form of hyemale and the plants which 

 Eaton named E. hyemale intermedium are regarded 

 by the describer of this new species as mere forms of 

 E. laevigatum. It is seen, therefore, that botanists 

 are by no means agreed as to what should constitute 

 a species in this group. Schaffner makes two groups 

 of these forms. One with persistent aerial stems which 

 are more or less rough and fruiting cones tipped with 

 a point. In this group are included as species E. hye- 

 male, E. robust urn and E. laevigatum. In the second 



