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does so. During the summer one to six large oval buds are 

 formed just below the surface, developing in spring into fertile 

 stems, which appear in April and May, fruit, and then decay, 

 while smaller buds offset below the surface and give rise to the 

 sterile stems, which develop as the others are ready to disappear. 



This species offers no permanent varieties. Any so called 

 variety placed under cultivation reverts to the normal form. 

 Some varieties, as campestre, it is true, are found rarely save in 

 circumscribed localities, but are not uniformly found there year 

 after year. Soils, exposure, shade, moisture, heat and cold all 

 have their influence in their production, and two or more forms 

 may be found on the same rhizome. Heavy damp soils with bare 

 areas, as in hoed crops, clayey banks of ditches, etc., will give 

 the form decumbens\ dry sandy soil in the sun, with little other 

 vegetation, as railroad grades and dry fields, will give the typi- 

 cal, erect, branched, fastigiate or pyramidal forms. Wet meadows 

 by streams, in rich soil among grasses, or borders of thickets, 

 will give the variety nemorosum, while very wet undrained situ- 

 ations, as in some cranberry patches, will give the var. riparium. 

 A late frost in spring, cutting down all the fertile spikes before 

 fructification, seems to throw the surplus energy into the sterile 

 stems, causing them to be modified and spike-bearing, giving the 

 variety campestre ; while a cold alpine or arctic climate appears 

 to cause the varieties arcticum and aipestre. Other causes may 

 produce the same effects, and probably very few of the governing 

 causes are known. 



BOUT two hundred and fifty species of ferns have hitherto 



been known from Japan. By the recent acquisition of the 



island of Formosa the number is increased, many species 

 new to her or to science being constantly discovered. Among 

 them Trichomanes peltatum is to be mentioned as one of the 

 most interesting. According to Hooker's "Synopsis Filicum," 

 (2nd edition), this peculiar little fern was only known to Samoa 

 and New Caledonia, and it was found to grow in Formosa by Mr. 

 Makino in his recent excursion to that island. It was in Novem- 

 ber of 1896 that Mr. Makino found the plant on a shaded rock on 

 a hill in northern Formosa. 



Variations. 



TRICHOMANES PELTATUM IN JAPAN. 



By K. Miyake. 



V 



