—44— 



and pinnules which may well be known in future as forma com- 

 pacta. \ 



Adiantum tricholepis. — Specimens of an Adiantum were 

 collected near the mouth of the Pecos river and referred to A. 

 tricholepis. The specimens differ, however, in being absolutely- 

 glabrous, though almost exactly like tricholepis in other respects. 

 No doubt this will be given specific rank as soon as it becomes 

 known to fern students, but until I have greater proof of its dis- 

 tinctness from A. tricholepis I prefer to consider it a form of 

 that species and would call it Adiantum tricholepis forma 

 glabrum. It may be characterized as follows: Fronds scattered 

 thin in texture, stipes 6 to 10 inches long, glabrous, dark brown; 

 blade ovate-lanceolate, 10 inches or more long, tri-pinnate below, 

 and twice pinnate nearly to the apex ; pinnules l /% to of an inch 

 wide, glabrous with a cuneate base and rounded three lobed 

 margin, short stalked ; sori long and narrow, about three on a 

 pinnule. Type specimen in the author's collection. The pinnules 

 of the specimen figured in Eaton's "Ferns" are rounded or trun- 

 cate at the base, while our specimens are distinctly wedge-shaped. 

 Mr. B. D. Gilbert, however, kindly compared the specimens with 

 the specimens of tricholepis in the National Herbarium and as- 

 sured me that the two agree in every particular except pubes- 

 cence. 



Cheilanthes Moritziana. — In Eaton's "Ferns" there is an 

 excellent figure representing the plant usually collected in the 

 Southwest as Cheilanthes microphylla. The frond is long and 

 very narrow, and is described as usually bi-pinnate with the pin- 

 nules pinnately incised. The author also notes that "a few speci- 

 mens of a frond with sub-deltoid and nearly tri-pinnate fronds 

 were collected on the Mexican Boundary Survey, the precise 

 locality not known," and the description of the species is mani- 

 festly cast to include these forms. This sub-deltoid form, how- 

 ever, is very common in some sections, and Mr. Ferriss reports 

 that it grows in quantities with the better known form without 

 intergrading in the least. To the eye the two are very distinct 

 and each can be distinguished as far away as the genus can be 

 recognized. It was plentiful at San Marcos, New Braunfels, 

 Devil's River and other places in Texas. Our specimens differ 

 from the true microphylla in having the base of the frond two- 



