-6g- 



shores of Gilmore pond were sufficiently clear to demonstrate that 

 this annular mode of growth was not merely a theory, but a dis- 

 tinct tendency. One more circumstance of interest may be men- 

 tioned regarding the rings on Gilmore pond, and that is that they 

 were never quite circular, but, when of regular growth at all, 

 were always broadly elliptical. Furthermore, the ellipses were in 

 nearly all cases so situated that their longest axes were parallel 

 with the margin of the pond. The most natural inference is that 

 the Lycopodium, in the manner of many other littoral plants, 

 tends rather to develop along the shore in a region of tolerably 

 uniform moisture, than toward or from the water which would 

 bring it into wetter or drier ground. — Abridged from an article 

 by B. L. Robinson in Rhodora. 



THE SPORE-BEARING AREA OF FERTILE FRONDS. 



'HE Woodwardia areolata is not an uncommon fern in New 



Jersey. In form and texture the sterile leaves are particu- 



larly attractive, and the taller and deeper green fertile 

 leaves late in the season are interesting, because of their strong 

 contrast with their purely vegetable neighbors. It is interesting 

 to note the observation of a leaf, during the last trip to the woods, 

 in which some of the lower pinnae were entirely sterile and ap- 

 proaching in width those of the ordinary form. The point that 

 especially impressed me was the fact that the upper half showed 

 the greater tendency to be fertile, while the lower approached 

 nearer to the sterile form. This is in accordance with the general 

 rule for the disposition of the sori upon fern leaves where there is 

 no differentiation into the sterile and fertile sorts. With this 

 thought in mind one does not need to look at the representatives 

 of many genera before coming to the conclusion that the upper 

 half of the frond is more generally devoted to spore production 

 than the lower half. This is most strikingly shown in the Climb- 

 ing fern (Lygodium palmatum) , also in our vicinity, and the 

 Dryopteris Noveboracensis growing in vast numbers along with 

 the Woodwardia in question, shows the same thing in its fertile 

 leaves and still more prominently the common Polypody of the 

 shaded rockeries. 



Just here there is another suggestion that this glance at the 

 location of the fruitful pinna? brings to mind. There is frequently, 

 if not usually, a portion of the upper end of the fern leaf that ap- 

 proaches sterility. The uppermost and terminal pinnule of the 



