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grew in different places on the same cliff, but the acuminatum 

 was very distinct from that. Two fronds in my herbarium, sent 

 by Mr. M. W. Gorman, from Alaska, seem to possess nearly the 

 same characteristics, but they are one-quarter larger than any of 

 the Ilion specimens and considerably thicker in texture. Their 

 veins also fork three or four times. For some time past I have 

 been inclined to look upon our so-called Poly podium vulgar e in 

 Eastern North America as a distinct species from the European 

 and Pacific coast species. Willdenow described a species which 

 he called P. Virginianum, which he said differed chiefly from P. 

 vulgare by having a non-paleaceous caudex. He gave its habitat 

 as Hayti and Virginia. At the same time he stated that he had 

 always received P. vulgare from North America under the name 

 of P. Virginianum. I possess John Smith's copy of Willdenow's 

 Cryptogamia, and in that he has made a note that P. Virginianum 

 is only a variety of P. vulgare. I do not remember seeing any 

 specimens without scales on the caudex, but there are other fea- 

 tures of quite as much importance which seem to me to dis- 

 tinguish our species from that of Europe. However, I am not 

 yet prepared to separate the two, which can only be done by one 

 who has a large number of European as well as American speci- 

 mens in his possession, in order to make the comparison complete 

 and definite. 



SOME ROADSIDE FERNS OF HERKIMER COUNTY, 

 NEW YORK. 



By H. D. House. 



It was my privilege last summer to traverse a considerable 

 portion of the upper part of Herkimer county, New York. This 

 county is extremely long from north to south, reaching from ten 

 miles south of the Mohawk river to seventy-five miles north of 

 it, and well up into the great wilderness of the Adirondack 

 region. I took copious notes upon the roadside vegetation of this 

 section, and later was surprised at the great number of ferns and 

 fern allies which I had noted in roadside situations. The 

 region, though once quite thickly populated, is now becoming 

 deserted. In some townships nearly one-third of the homesteads 

 are unoccupied and falling to decay. Civilization is slowly losing 

 ground there, and this may account in part for the abundance 



