— 16— 



and sometimes in the middle. Sometimes the sterile division is 

 sessile, and sometimes it has a comparatively long stipe. 



The color of B. matricariae folium is decidedly whitish-green, 

 in contrast to B. lanceolatum, which is bright green. The first 

 prefers leafmold, and is easily taken up, while the other often 

 grows in rocky ground, and its roots penetrate the soil so deeply, 

 that it is often difficult to take it up with the rhizome. B. lanceo- 

 latum is uniform, as a rule, never varying to the degree that B. 

 matricariae folium does. I have seldom seen sterile plants of 

 either species. This is in marked contrast to B. virginianum and 

 still more to Ophioglossum, in which sterile plants are numerous. 



There is a remarkable station for Struthiopteris germanica 

 here. Remarkable, because it is not in "alluvial soil of rivers," as 

 the books have it, but a rocky hollow in a forest of considerable 

 altitude. A mountain brook runs through it over rocks, as usual 

 in the Catskills, making the ravine rather wet. There the 

 Ostrich fern flourishes to the number of about 20 or 30 healthy 

 plants, but they are all sterile, to my great chagrin. Associated 

 with them are about 10 plants of Dryopteris Goldiana. These 

 fruit freely, and are splendid specimens. Most numerous, how- 

 ever, is Dryopteris thelyteris, which reaches gigantic proportions, 

 almost as large as the Struthiopteris. 



When Osmunda cinnamomea grows in very wet situations 

 directly in the water, the fronds become harsh to the touch, like 

 Pteris, and the pinnules become more or less serrate. This is my 

 observation in Highmount Swamp, which is full of water this 

 year, owing to the wet season we are having. 

 Griffins Comers, N. Y. 



EQUISETUM ROBUSTUM-A. Br. J844. 



Since priority is the order of the day in nomenclature it 

 seems to the writer that the name of this species should be 

 Bquisetum praelatum Rafinesque. It was recognized and des- 

 cribed by him as a new species in the revised "Florula Ludovici- 

 ana" of C. C. Robin, in 181 7. The original description is as fol- 

 folws: Caulibus simplicibus crectis scabris fistulosis ; vaginis 

 nigrescens crenulatis, corona emulans." To which is added in 



