OUR MISCELLANY. 



I observe from a note by C. F. Saunders, that among others 

 he has not found Botrychium ternatum in New Jersey. I have 

 found it frequently in this neighborhood, though not so plenti- 

 fully during the past two years. The variety incisum has seemed 

 more common in localities where I have found it than the or- 

 dinary forms, but both are found. — Elwyn Waller. 



To a great many fern students it would be very satisfactory 

 to know just why Linnaeus gave the specific name sensibilis to 

 our common Onoclea. More than one suggestion has been offered 

 for the derivation of the name, but none seems to have noticed 

 the one by the early botanist, Eaton. In the fourth edition of 

 his botany, published in 1824, he says of it: " The leaflets slowly 

 approach each other on squeezing the stem in the hand." Has 

 anyone a more plausible theory to account for the derivation of 

 the name ? 



Your correspondent was quite right in his inference that 

 Osmunda CI ay toman a might do well in cultivation. Here it is 

 found under the varied conditions noted, a favorite rendezvous 

 being old pasture fields which have been for years denuded of 

 trees but never put into cultivation. I have transplanted it with 

 success to my wild flower bed during the fruiting stage. O. cin- 

 namomea is also desirable for cultivation. I have never found 

 0. regalis save in the large swamps. A specimen transplanted 

 some years ago is barely living, but has never produced fertile 

 pinnse. Though watered frequently during dry weather, it evi- 

 dently pines for its swampy home. — Bessie L. Putnam, Harmons- 

 burg, Pa. 



In reference to Dryoptcris acrostichoides, it may be of inter- 

 est to note the origin of the best known common name. The 

 name Christmas fern appears to have been thus applied for a 

 comparatively short time. In the Bulletin of the Torrey Botani- 

 cal Club for 1873, Prof. D. C. Eaton, writing of Mr. John Robinson's 

 recent fern list, remarks; " Our well-known Aspidium acrosti- 

 ckoides, so available for winter decorations, is happily christened 

 Christmas fern— a name which I certainly hope will be adopted." 

 The name has since come into common use, and for its sugges- 

 tiveness alone is much to be preferred to "Wood fern," by which 

 the plant is also known in parts of Xew England.— IV. R. 

 Maxon, New York. 



