—31— 



for each year are fully paid in, and we trust that no member will 

 handicap us in this respect. 



— The October election gave the following officers for 1904: 

 President. James A. Graves. Susquehanna. Pa. : Vice-President. 

 James H. Ferriss, Joliet. 111. : Secretary. Homer D. House, New 

 York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, New York City ; Treasurer, 

 C. F. Saunders,. 307 'Walnut street. Philadelphia, Pa. The full 

 report of the Judge of Elections will appear in the annual re- 

 port. 



THIRD MEETING OF FERN STUDENTS. 



The third meeting of fern students under the auspices of the 

 Fern Chapter was held at St. Louis, Mo.. Wednesday, December 

 30. 1903. Eight States were represented by members present. 

 Every member but two. within a radius of 250 miles of St. Louis, 

 was at this meeting, while the application of four new members 

 were received. 



The meeting was held in the St. Louis High School and was 

 called to order by Prof. N. L. T. Nelson. As none of the Chapter 

 officers were present, Mr. J. H. Ferriss. the vice-president-elect 

 for 1904, was made president of the meeting and Prof. Nelson 

 was elected secretary. 



Prof. W. J. S. Bryan, principal of the St. Louis High School, 

 made a pleasant and cordial address of welcome, to which the 

 presiding officer replied in behalf of the Chapter. The presenta- 

 tion of papers then followed, the first being a paper on "The 

 Ferns of the Southwest," by James H. Ferriss, in which he 

 sketched some of his collecting experiences with observations on 

 the ferns collected. Mr. Ferriss exhibited a nearly complete set 

 of these ferns and some considerable time was spent by those 

 present in examining them. In "New or Rare Ferns from the 

 Southwest," Willard N. Clute discussed some of Mr. Ferriss' 

 specimens, naming two new forms and reinstating one species. 

 Following this with a paper on "The Measurement of Variation 

 in Equisetum," the same speaker detailed some experiments in 

 this line and described a new species which, though like E. 

 hyemale in internal structure, is very different from that species 

 in external characters. Mr. J. H. Ferriss then made some ob- 

 servations on "A New Fern from Florida," in which he mentioned 



