NOTES. 



The new form of Dicksonia schisophylla, named by Mr. 

 Clute in the July Bulletin, still retains its peculiar form, and, 

 like the first ones, all the fronds found are sterile. The original 

 plant is gradually spreading by means of its rootstock, one new 

 plant being found. — A. Vincent Osmun, State College, Amherst, 

 Mass. 



Miss Jean Broadhurst writes that while in Chamonix, France, 

 last summer she found six species of ferns on an old stone wall 

 growing in a space less than 40 inches square. Five of these, 

 namely: Phegopteris phegopteris, P. dryopteris, Asplenium Ulix- 

 foemina, A. trichomanes and cystopteris fragilis are also native 

 to the United States, and the sixth, Nephrodium filix-mas is found 

 in Canada. 



The ferns in my wild garden were badly eaten last summer 

 and it was not till late in the fall that I discovered the depredator. 

 To my surprise I found an interesting case of protective mimi- 

 cry in the little green worm which so resembled a small sec- 

 tion of the fruiting pinnae of Asplenium angustifolium. The 

 yellow stripes on the sides of the body had the same relative dis- 

 tance and slant of the fern sori, were perhaps a trifle yellower, 

 but the resemblance was very marked. The worm was a little 

 more than an inch long. I shall watch for the moth with interest 

 next year, if the depredations continue. — Mrs. B. C. Anthony, 

 Gouvcrneur, N. Y. 



— A correspondent who has tried to raise the Boston fern 

 {Nephrolepis exaltata) from spores, without success, asks if 

 others have been more successful. She also asks to have answered 

 through the Bulletin the following: (1.) Is the Boston fern a 

 hybrid? (2.) Will the scattering of different fern spores on the 

 propogating bed produce hybrids? Ans. — Nephrolepis exaltata 

 is not a hybrid. If spores are scattered thick enough and all give 

 rise to prothallia it is possible that hybrids might result. The 

 chances, however, are greatly against it. The surest way of pro- 

 ducing hybrids is by sectioning prothallia and planting the por- 

 tion of one containing the archegonia close to another containing 

 only antheridia. 



