—13— 



doubtedly the ones which Solander had in mind when he named 

 the species anceps. The name seems to me to be an eminently 

 fitting appellation, when one takes into consideration the two 

 winged angles which form the most prominent character of the 

 species. 



Lycopodium tristachyum Pursh. — Dr. Underwood tells me 

 that he examined Pursh's American specimens at the British 

 Museum and that his L. Tristachyum exactly agrees with what 

 has long been known as L. Chamaecyparissus A. Br. As Pursh's 

 is the oldest name it must of course take precedence. At Alder 

 Creek, N. Y., this species grows plentifully in sandy woods, but 

 is replaced in open spots by L. complanatam. It bears fruited 

 spikes much less freely than complanatum, is about a month 

 earlier, the branches are longer, slenderer, more drooping, less 

 rigid than the other, and, as has already been noted, the main 

 stems are placed a little below the surface of the soil. So far as 

 reported, it seems to prefer sandy soil and seldom grows in any 

 other. Professor Peck, our New York State botanist, writes me 

 that he has found it growing plentifully in Essex county, N. Y. 

 So it is liable to be discovered in other localities also. 



Polypodium vulgare acumixatum Gilbert. — Fronds in- 

 cluding stipes eight to twelve inches long, two to three inches 

 . wide, pinnae sixteen to twenty-two pairs acute to long acuminate, 

 very irregular in length, also irregularly but not deeply crenate, 

 texture somewhat thinner than in the ordinary form of P. vul- 

 gare, lowest pair of pinnae completely separated from others and 

 usually bent in so as to touch each other on the face ; color dark 

 green above, pale green underneath. When this was first found 

 it was thought to be YVollaston's var. laciniatum, described in 

 Moore's "Nature Printed Ferns" as follows : "In this variety 

 the lobes (pinnules) are of different lengths and simply but ir- 

 regularly notched, and somewhat crisped or reflexed." This ans- 

 wers very well for a description of our variety, so far as it goes. 

 But it says nothing about the acuminate pinnae, which form the 

 most distinctive feature of acuminatum. It fruits sparingly 

 toward the tips of fronds, and bears the same large sori as P. 

 vulgare. It also has the same dark and wavy midribs, the veins 

 running from wmich are generally once branched. Found October 

 5, 1901, on the face of a cliff at Fox's Fall, near Ilion, N. Y., 

 growing in a clump three feet long and one foot wide. P. vulgare 



