—24— 



forms, every one of which it would be necessary to examine be- 

 fore it would be possible to know whether another was new or 

 not ; indeed there is too much reason to fear that some of the 

 forms described here under new names have already been pub- 

 lished abroad under others. 



However the List as a whole is to be warmly commended as 

 the mOst complete enumeration of American fernworts yet pub- 

 lished. It supplements admirably Mr. Maxon's carefully prepared 

 and more systematic catalog and the two Lists constitute a com- 

 plete presentation of the different attitudes of the radical and 

 conservative workers of the present day that should be in the 

 hands of all fern students. 



Mr. Gilbert's attitude on the nomenclatorial question will 

 especially excite the liveliest interest in his work, as, like Mr. 

 Clute's Fern Book, it emanates from the very heart-centre of 

 the Rochester atmosphere which might be expected to influence 

 his views, yet here he has set aside the extreme views of the 

 Rochester advocates and given in a very clear and concise man- 

 ner his reasons for adopting the sounder principles of nomen- 

 clature which recognize the first correct generic and specific com- 

 bination as the true name of a plant. 



Medford, Mass. 



NOTES ON SOME RARE WASHINGTON FERNS. 



By J. B. Flett. 



There is a region of country about thirty miles in extent be- 

 tween the prairie country lying southeast of Tacoma and the 

 base of the Cascade mountains, about which little is known 

 botanically only that it is covered with heavy timber and dense 

 underbrush. 



A rocky precipice rising abruptly 500-1000 feet a few miles 

 back in the woods proved to be a natural fernery. At the base 

 grew Polys tic hum munitum incisoserratiwl as high as my head. 

 The common brake, Pteridum aquilinum pubescens, 6-8 feet high, 

 several forms of A thy Hum cyclosorum, the Maiden-hair and 

 Deer ferns. The trees at the base were covered with a dense 

 growth of liverworts and mosses. Among these grew Poly- 

 podium falcatum in great abundance, though small compared with 

 its growth on the rotten logs in the dark woods. Higher up on 



