S4 



THE FERN BULLETIN 



tips of the fruiting branches during active growth, as 

 for instance, by some browsing animal. It would be 

 interesting to try the results of the removal of the tips 

 of the upright stems at different stages of growth. 

 June 15th, 1909. 



Since writing the above, I have made another visit 

 to Hartsville and made a further search for these 

 forms, which resulted in the finding of an indefinite 

 number of them. In two large areas in damp open 

 flats near the edge of the same lake where the first 

 collection was made L. adpressum was so abundant 

 as to be almost the dominant vegetation over hun- 

 dreds of square yards. Here, mixed with the typical 

 form, the polyclavate plants were so abundant that the 

 number secured was determined only by the patience 

 of the collector. In this particular area L. Carolini- 

 anum is also found in large quantities overlapping tc 

 some extent the territory of L. adpressum. 



It is interesting to compare the situations most af- 

 fected by the three species, Carolinianum, adpressum, 

 and alopecuroidcs, all of which are abundant at Harts- 

 ville. According to my observations adpressum is in- 

 termediate in its requirements between the other two, 

 Carolinianum seeming to prefer a firmer somewhat 

 dryer substratum than does the former, while alope- 

 cur aides is found in wetter situations than either, be- 

 ing happier in the sphagnum covered margins of 

 branches, swamps and bays. Alopecuroides is perhaps 

 most often associated with sphagnum, while adpres- 

 sum is rarely so, and Carolinianum never. 



In this journal for April, 1909, page 47, Mr. Clute 

 gives it as his opinion that the normal plant of L. 

 adpressum is "a mere ecological form; a northern ex- 

 tension of the well-known southern fox-tail club-moss 

 L. alopeeuroides." Now it is not easy to see how Mr. 



