104 



THE FERN BULLETIN 



species has never since been reported from this country 

 and is no longer considered a member of our flora, 

 though a few of the books continue to list it — a good 

 illustration of how long a mistake may linger in the 

 records of a science. 



A FERN NEW TO THE UNITED STATES. 



By Willard N. Clute. 



Now and then, in exploring out of the way places in 

 the United States, the student may chance upon a 

 specimen differing enough from the ordinary to be 

 pronounced by some a new species, but our territory is 

 now so well known that we need scarcely expect to 

 make further finds of this kind, or indeed, to find de- 

 scribed species not previously reported. The only ex- 

 ception to this must be made with reference to the 

 southern part of our country, the Gulf States, espe- 

 cially Florida, and the great Southwest. Long before 

 the careful explorations of A. A. Eaton and others in 

 Florida had added more than a dozen new species to 

 our list, we had pointed out the possibilities of doing 

 so, and we would record here the opinion that there 

 are still several more species to be reported. The 

 proximity of the southern part of the State to several 

 tropical islands and the lightness of fern spores gen- 

 erally make all the probabilities in favor of an occas- 

 ional new fern becoming established there. 



The same thing may be said of the Southwest, where 

 the sharp eyes of Mr. James H. Ferriss have already 

 located various species new to our flora and also some 

 new to science. Such of these specie^ as have pre- 

 viously been described are immigrants from Mexico, 

 rather than from the West Indies, and it seems quite 

 likely that when the vast stretches of territory in the 

 Southwest which still await the advent of the fern 



