—13— 



I hardly agree with Mr. Dodge's theory as to the cause pro- 

 ducing 0. cmnamojnea frondosa. I have found the variety 

 abundantly on land which I know has not been burned over for 

 fifty years or more. I believe the same cause that produces the 

 variety incisa will also produce variety frondosa, and is also 

 liable to change the form of Pteris aquilina and possibly of some 

 others. I have frondosa with fertile pinnae below and others 

 with fertile pinnae above the sterile, and some with spore cases 

 adhering to the under side of sterile divisions, very much like 

 ferns not dimorphous.— f. Warren Huntingioti, Amesbury, 

 Mass. 



Dryopteris acrostichoides incisa is found wherever the type 

 grows, and Eaton says Prof. Harvey reported it as the common 

 form in Arkansas. Of this I am certain, that it seldom grows in 

 the shade to perfection. If, however, the woods be cut off. they 

 immediately revert to the form, densely fruiting and deeply in- 

 cised. I collected about three hundred fronds in one small locality 

 last year, in an open on the north side of a hill where hemlock 

 woods had been cut two years ago. All around was the type in 

 the greatest abundance 1 ever saw. On one side were large hem- 

 locks, and the edge of the woods marked the limit of the incisa. 

 On another side was a growth of saplings, where the woods must 

 have been cut fifteen years ago. Here I found not one incisa, 

 though the type was everywhere. 



This holds good in every instance where I have found good 

 incisa. It seems to be owing to extreme luxuriance that this form 

 is taken on, for I have found it growing late in the season from 

 roots that did not show it on other fronds, but for some 

 reason were so vigorous they had to use some of their extra 

 energy in a second growth. In these cases there was but little 

 fruit, though my finest fronds are of it. I find that it fruits 

 densest the second year after the wood is cut. I have several 

 fronds of which the lowest pair of pinnae are more than half 

 covered, and the fourth pair completely so. — Alvah A. Eaton, 

 Seabrook, N. H. 



SENSITIVENESS OF FERNS TO ENVIRONMENT. 



FERN collectors often speak of clearing away rubbish from 

 some rare species in order to give the remaining speci- 

 mens a better chance. Obviously the collector and the 

 culturist are two distinct institutions. Nothing will further the 



