LYCOPODIUM ALOPECUROIDES.* 



MR. ALVAH A. EATON, in the January, 1897, number of 

 The Fern Bulletin, published an announcement of his 

 supposed discovery of Lycopodium alopeciiroid.es in 

 Massachusetts, but it seemed to me, at the time, that his de- 

 scription of the plants collected by him on Plum Island pointed 

 quite clearly to Lycopodium inundatutn L, var. Bigelovii 

 (Oakes) Tuckerman. 



But, while I feared that he had mistaken the latter for the 

 southern species, until quite recently I have had no means of 

 verifying my suspicion. Now, however, specimens have come 

 into my hands for examination that were sent out from his own 

 collection, and under his own label, and I find, as I suspected, 

 that his Plum Island plants are L. inundatum, var. Bigelovii. 

 L. alopecuroides therefore remains yet to be discovered east of 

 New Jersey. 



It is a little singular that so well marked a plant as Bigelovii 

 should not have been even mentioned in the " Illustrated Flora," 

 although it has been collected time and time again in Eastern 

 Massachusetts, and is a much more distinct plant than a great 

 many varietal forms that are being elevated to specific rank. — 

 George E. Davenport. 



[Since the above was written the editor has sent Mr. Daven- 

 port specimens of a Lycopodium from Babylon, Long Island, 

 which he pronounces true alopecuroides. This, therefore extends 

 the range of this species if Mr. Eaton's locality does not hold. 

 Jelliffe's " Flora of Long Island " also records this species from 

 East Hampton, near the eastern end of Long Island, but appar- 

 ently no specimens are on record to substantiate the claim. — Ed.] 



THE SEQUENCE OF THE CINNAMON FERN'S FRONDS. 



ONE who carefully examines the cinnamon ferns will notice 

 that the sterile and fertile fronds of both cinnamomea and 

 Claytoniana belong to different cycles of growth. First 

 to start are the fertile fronds, and after they have begun unrolling 

 the sterile fronds come up from a circle of buds inside the circle 

 of fruiting fronds. The stipes of the sterile fronds bend sharply 

 outward at base, which causes their green blades to form the outer 

 circle at maturity. There are doubtless many who have always 

 fancied the cinnamon-colored spikes to belong to the second or 



♦Read before the New England Botanical Club, March 3, i8gg. 



