— 16— 



country is sandy with frequent peat bogs and ponds. At one 

 place, beside a road near Ohio, I found five species of Lyco- 

 podium within a distance of a few hundred yards, Lycopodium 

 complanatum, L. lucidulum and L. obscurum in the edge of a 

 wood, and L. inundatum in a sandy depression. However, L. 

 clavatum was the most abundant, some of its stems being many 

 feet in length and all heavily fruited. With L. inundatum I found 

 Botrychium matricariae folium and Selaginella apus. the latter 

 abundant. In manv places along these sandy roads, thickets of 

 the common Brake (Pteris aquilina) and berry bushes nearly hid 

 the fences. In these thickets I found many of our common ferns, 

 such as the Christmas fern (Polystichium acrostichioides) , the 

 Marginal Shield fern (NepJirodium marginale), Botrychium 

 Virginicum and the rushes, Bquisetum arvense and B. Jiiemale. 

 The Lady fern (AtJiyrium Mix-foemina) is a conspicuous road- 

 side plant in many localities. There are several forms of this 

 fern found in this region, their distribution depending ap- 

 parently upon environmental factors. Along a roadside near 

 Gray I found the Adder's-tongue fern (Ophiogiossum vulgatum) 

 and Botrychium ternatum obliquum. In a bog close to the road 

 at Wilmurt, I found a few specimens of the Crested Shield fern 

 {NepJirodium cristatum) and plenty of the Spreading Wood 

 fern (A r . spmulosum dilatatum) . 



The above named species are far from being all of the ferns 

 that grow in Herkimer county, and doubtless many more of 

 them may be found in roadside situations. It is seen that ma- 

 terial for the study of the ecology of the ferns is not lacking 

 even by the roadside. It is a significant fact that of the many 

 species of Asplenium found in this region, only a few specimens 

 of one were found by the roadside, while on the other hand, the 

 genus NepJirodium was largely represented in roadside situations 

 by nearly all of its local species. 



HELPS FOR THE BEGINNER. 



VI— The Club-Mosses. 

 Once more the holiday season has brought the club-mosses 

 into prominence. Of course the botanist and the lover of wild 

 nature knows what a club-moss is, but many others, perfectly 

 familiar with these plants, would scarcely recognize them by this 



