82 



THE FERN BULLETIN 



tie difference in appearance between the fertile and 

 sterile fronds, and in fact the sori are so small and in- 

 conspicuous as to cause one to doubt their power of 

 reproduction. 



Fortunately for the student who loves beauty even 

 more than rarity in ferns the boulder fern is distribu- 

 ted over a wide area being found from Canada to 

 Alabama and westward to Minnesota. It is seldom 

 entirely lacking in any locality of the Northeastern 

 States, but naturally is more plentiful in some parts 

 than in others. 



Botanists call this fern Dicksonia pilosiuscula the 

 genus being named for James Dickson, an English bot- 

 anist. I can easily understand that Dickson, who, very 

 likely, was a common-place sort of fellow, might be 

 very glad to attach so much grace and beauty to him- 

 self, but why "pilosiuscula" only a botanist can tell. 

 / do not know. 



New 'Hartford, N. Y. 



[Pilosiuscula apparently means very hairy. If our 

 latin scholars can further enlighten us we shall wel- 

 come the information — Ed.] 



A Forking Cystopteris. — In the Ohio Naturalist 

 for June, L. S. Hopkins describes a form of Cystop- 

 teris fragilis with forking pinnae as the variety cris- 

 tata. Opinions may differ as to the desirability of giv- 

 ing a name to a mere forking frond, but in any event 

 the name crista t a cannot stand since a form of Cystop- 

 teris has been known in Europe for twenty years or 

 more by this name. Forking fronds of Cystopteris 

 have been reported from time to time but we fail to 

 find any of them named. It might be desirable in thils 

 case, should the fern need a name, to follow the exam- 

 ple of our British cousins and call the form furcata. 



