—13— 



Until the present the western range of L. lucidulum was sup- 

 posed to end in Minnesota, but there is no doubt that the Mt. Ran- 

 ier specimens are properly referred to this species. There are, how- 

 ever, slight differences in form. The leaves are thinner, less 

 strongly nerved, less sharply pointed, and, in all specimens that I 

 have seen, lack the toothing toward the tips, that is characteristic 

 of the eastern form. I would therefore call it forma occidental, 

 and name as the type, a specimen in my herbarium collected by 

 J. B. Flett, August 15, 1901, near the base of Mt. Ranier, Wash, 

 (No. 1905). it is interesting to note in this connection that the 

 Japanese L. serratum differs about as much from our L. lucid- 

 ulum in the toothing of the leaves, as the latter differs from ac- 

 cident ale. 



Name of the Japanese Polypody. — Mr. Maxon's opinion 

 that the Japanese polypody is distinct from our common P. vul- 

 gare is likely to De subscribed to by all who have had an oppor- 

 tunity of comparing specimens of both ; in fact it was considered 

 a good species long before Mr. Maxon gave it the name of P. 

 Japonicum, and in 1896 Dr. Christ gave it the name of P. Faurii. 

 The plant was originally described as the variety Japonicum of P. 

 vulgare, and the question whether we shall call it Faurii or Jap- 

 onicum seems to depend upon whether the varietal name may be 

 ignored. Since everything from seasonal variations to distinct 

 species have heretofore been loosely given the name "variety," 

 and since the line must be drawn somewhere, it would perhaps be 

 well, in raising fonns to higher rank, to ignore all names of 

 varieties that were not published as distinct trinomials. Mr. 

 Maxon also seems to be in error in regard to the cause of the 

 coiling fronds as characteristic of this species. He explains it as 

 due to the unequal contraction of the fibrovascular bundles in 

 drying, but a botanist who has collected the plant assures me that 

 the fronds are coiled in the living specimens. 



Ceratopteris in Florida. — Ceratopteris is a species not com- 

 mon in herbariums, though the State of Florida, at least, seems 

 to contain plenty of it. Mr. Severin Rapp has recently found a 

 new station for it in Central Florida, near Sanford, Orange 

 County. He reports that there are thousands of specimens cover- 

 ing several acres. 



