A WEEDY FERNWORT. 



A couple of years ago a correspondent in Northern Nebraska 

 sent me a specimen of Marsilia vestita for name, with the state- 

 ment that it was growing abundantly in one of his meadows, 

 and that it was a weed which was giving him a good deal of 

 trouble. I was much surprised, and investigated the matter 

 somewhat carefully, and found that it was as he had said. There 

 is no doubt that in his case Marsilia had spread out into a 

 somewhat wet meadow, and that its luxuriant growth gave it the 

 characteristics of a weed. I do not know of any case of this 

 kind on record, and invite the attention of readers of the Bulletin 

 to this instance, asking for statements with regard to similar 

 cases. — Charles B. Bessey, the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 

 Nebraska. 



[Some of the other species of Marsilia have the same weedv 

 characteristics mentioned by Prof. Bessey. In the City of New 

 Orleans, Marsilia uncinata is common in ditches, and in the 

 suburbs often grows entirely across the streets, making them look 

 like fields of clover. Indeed, this species is so much like clover, 

 that it often escapes notice on that account. The story is told 

 of a certain southern botanist that happening in New Orleans 

 he expressed a desire to see the rare Marsilia uncinata. His com- 

 panion told him to look down at his feet, whereupon he found he 

 was standing in Marsilia up to his shoe-tops. M. uncinata was 

 long considered rare, but it has recently been found in abundance 

 for 200 miles or more along the Mississippi. — Ed.] 



CEROPTERIS TRIANGULARIS IN ALASKA. 



Sometime ago a question was raised relative to the occur- 

 rence of this species, the Californian "goldback fern," north of 

 Vancouver Island. I have a specimen collected at Cape Nome, 

 Alaska, by Dr. F. E. Blaisdell in the summer of 1900, com- 

 municated by Miss Alice Eastwood of the California Academy 

 of Sciences. The specimen consists of a single leaf of under- 

 size, but is normal and unmistakable. — L. M. Underwood. 



[The fern above mentioned is the species familiar to many 

 under the name of Gymnogramme triangularis. All the other 

 Gymnogrammes are tropical or sub-tropical species, and the oc- 

 currence of this one so far north is both curious and interest- 

 ing. — Ed.] 



