-14 — 



work of extermination more rapidly than the removal of old 

 fronds and decaying vegetable matter. Nature may not be an 

 orderly dame, but she understands her business and utilizes all her 

 waste for protection and fertilization. "Through death comes 

 life," and no where is it better exemplified than in the fern world. 

 Furthermore, who can tell where microscopic wind-blown spores 

 are lodged ? The superficial observer never dreams that the 

 green filmy suggestion on the decaying leaves which he ruth- 

 lessly brushes away is the prothallia of the very fern he is seek- 

 ing to preserve. 



Fern photography requires a deal of clearing around the 

 subject to be taken, otherwise confusion of " sticks and straws 

 and dead men's bones" spoil the detail of the picture. I have 

 cleared a goodly number of choice places for the camera, and in 

 every instance where I have re-visited the field the following 

 year, I have observed a marked deterioration of the ferns. I have 

 in mind a splendid specimen of Dryopteais marginaiis — a perfect 

 crown of nine large fronds spread over a carpet of pine-needles. 

 I removed all of the old fronds and cleared old fallen leaves 

 away. The next season I counted but seven fronds, all smaller 

 than those photographed. The second summer but five more or 

 less imperfect fronds unrolled. Even a moss-covered rock with 

 an embroidered front of Walking-leaf resented my interference. 

 Nature is a sensitive house-keeper and prefers to do her own 

 picking up for the preservation of some of her rare gifts. We 

 had best let her luxuriate in seeming disorder. — G. A. Woolson, 

 Pittsford, Vt. 



ADIANTUM CAPILLUS-VENERIS IN DAKOTA. 



PECIMENS of Adiantwn capillns-veneris, said to have grown 



wild at Cascade in the Black Hills of South Dakota, were 



sent to me by Mrs. Alice M. Crary a couple of months ago. 

 Yesterday, in company of Dr. Frederic E. Clements, I visited the 

 locality and found the ferns growing in great abundance along 

 the banks of. a stream of warm water which issues from several 

 large springs. The banks of this stream for nearly a mile are 

 lined with the ftrn in all sizes and ages, from those just issuing 

 from the gametophyte (which were abundant), to fruiting speci- 

 mens 40 to 50cm high. A thorough examination convinced us 

 that it is indigenous along this warm stream, and that it has not 

 been introduced by human agency. — Charles E. Bessey in 

 Botanical Gazette for October, 1898. 



