OUR MISCELLANY, 



Mr. J. B. Flett, of Tacoma, Wash., has recently collected 

 specimens of Asplenium viride in the State of Washington near 

 the international boundary line. The fern has been known from 

 British Columbia, but this appears to be the first time it has been 

 collected farther south in that part of the world. Mr. Flett also 

 found excellent specimens of the variety dentata of Cystopteris 

 fragilis. 



Perhaps some facts concerning Aspidium mohrioides may be 

 interesting. I have found plenty of it on the high mountains of 

 the Cascade range east of Mt. Ranier, and was pleased to have it 

 sent to me last year from the vicinity of Dawson in the Klondike 

 region, where it was found by Mr. John McLean. Dr. C. H. 

 Purpus has collected Notholcena tenera from Piute Peak, about 

 the southern end of the Sierra Nevada and south of Mt. Whitney. 

 — T. S. Brandegee, San Diego, Calif. 



Woodwardia areolata is a fern in which there is no doubt 

 about the presence of an indusium. Before the spores are shed, 

 it is thick and leathery in texture, and probably adds quite a little 

 to the weight of the fertile frond, which is noticeably heavier than 

 a sterile one. In the majority of ferns, when the spores are shed, 

 or even before, the indusium withers, but it is not so with this 

 species. The fertile fronds remain erect for a part of the winter 

 at least, and the indusia assume a corky appearance, each being 

 wrinkled transversely in several places. They also become much 

 broader and so bulky that the pinnae seem nearly an eighth of an 

 inch thick. 



We are all familiar with the curious antics of the ripe spores 

 of Equisetum when viewed through a microscope. When moist- 

 ened by a breath, the elaters coil round the spore, and as the 

 moisture evaporates, they quickly spread out again in a remark- 

 ably animated manner. It does not seem to be generally known 

 that the same phenomena may be observed with the naked eye, 

 but if one will shake upon the back of his hand a quantity of the 

 spores from the cone-like spikes at just the right time in their 

 growth, he will suddenly see the sage-green mass appear to boil, 

 becoming at the same time fluffy and lighter in color, due to the 

 opening elaters. The spores are too small to allow us to see the 

 process in a single spore, but in the mass the effect is quite 

 noticeable. 



