-56- 



that my experience with either is not limited; but I have never 

 found a specimen large or small where they met, although have 

 diligently searched for such. — Alvah A. Baton, Seabrook, N. H. 



THE SLENDER CLIFF BRAKE ON SANDSTONE. 



I notice on page 85 of "Our Ferns in Their Haunts" the state- 

 ment regarding Pellaea gracilis that "there appears to be no 

 record of its having been found on any but rocks of this character" 

 — referring to limestone. 



Here it grows abundantly on moist ledges of St. Peter's sand- 

 stone — a bed of almost pure sand 75 feet in thickness, outcropping 

 in Southeastern Minnesota and Northeastern Iowa and also in 

 Central Western Wisconsin. The plant also grows abundantly 

 on moist exposures of Trenton (limestone) shales. — Ellison Orr, 

 Waukon, Iowa. 



[This seems to be the first instance of this species being found 

 on rocks other than limestone. It is also of interest to note that 

 Waukon, Iowa, is about the southern limit of the fern's dis- 

 tribution in the Mississippi Valley so far as known. — Ed.] 



NOTES ON SOME COMMON FERNS. 



By J. C. Buchheister. 



Poly podium vulgare. — There is a difference in the fronds of 

 ferns found in the plain and those found in higher altitudes. 

 The chief feature about the mountain specimens is their long 

 "tail" — that is, the fronds end with an acuminate apex of re- 

 markable length, often an inch long. Mostly this tail is covered 

 with sori. Side by side the difference in the looks of specimens 

 of Westchester County, N. Y., and of those of the Catskills is 

 striking. As to their endurance through the winter, not all 

 fronds go through it unscathed. A good many curl up, sideways, 

 the pinnae inverted, and wither. On the other hand, I have 

 found remarkably large fronds at East Chester on low ridges in 

 February, after a severe winter, which were splendid and did not 

 seem the worse for the frost they had endured. These seem to 



