—107— 



When I received a complimentary copy of the aforesaid 

 Rhodora, I gave myself the pleasure of sending an " I told you 

 so" through the mail with befitting comments. Had Mr. Clute 

 seen the plant as I saw it, in the midst of suspicious environ- 

 ment, I doubt if he would have considered it " sheer nonsense to 

 make so much of a variant form." I have faith to believe that 

 a " recurvatum " of sentiment is yet in store for unbelievers. 



Now for my own story: I have made no change for years 

 in a certain section of the fern-border which flanks one side of 

 my house. All additions are of nature's own. Near the corner 

 where the porch joins the house is a fine marginalis. A few 

 feet from this fern is another angle formed by the steps ex- 

 tending to within perhaps six inches of the front corner of the 

 porch. In this little nook a small plant of Spinulosa var. inter- 

 media has had a hard struggle for life ; the fronds were invar- 

 iably broken down or trampled by misplaced feet. 



Early in the season just passed I noticed that my intermedia 

 was making a much finer growth than usual. Some of the fronds 

 were so beautiful that I thought seriously of potting the plant 

 for decorative use indoors for the summer, rather than leave 

 it to its usual fate. This I was prevented from doing by an ill- 

 ness which confined me to my room for a month. When I again 

 crossed my own doorstep, I paused and considered the unusual 

 fronds at my feet. In my growing collection of forty-odd ferns 

 I had nothing like it. Through some witchery in nature the 

 color and texture of the marginalis had fallen upon a sup- 

 posedly unquestionable intermedia. 



Examination of the root-growth showed that these fronds 

 came from a well-developed crown resembling that of mar- 

 ginalis crowding out from under the side of the steps. There 

 are also two lesser crowns, one is a genuine intermedia, but the 

 other may be an offset of the other. However, even in behalf of 

 science, I refuse to disturb the root-growth at present. A num- 

 ber of fronds were sent to Mr. Davenport, who identified my fern 

 as N. Pittsfordensis and wished to know if it came from Miss 

 Slosson's station. Assuredly it did not, for that is two miles 

 away. As I remember Miss Slosson's plant, I should say that it 

 differed from mine about as much as the type differs from its 

 variety intermedia. The environment of both plants certainly 

 favors the theory of hybridity. 



