— 21 — 



It has been a long time since the Fern Chapter 

 CHAPTER AND and The Fern Bulletin were under the same 

 BULLETIN management, but the relation between the two 



is still misunderstood by many. At this season, 

 when the payment of the Chapter's annual dues begins, it should 

 be remembered that this journal is sent free to all members of 

 the Chapter whose dues are paid, but the dues should be sent to 

 the Treasurer of the Chapter, and not to us. 



Among the remarkable features in the life of a 

 THE FERN fern, none are more wonderful than those which 

 PROTHALLIUM belong to its prothallium or "caterpillar" stage, 



as one author has expressed it. This filmy scale 

 that bridges the fern's existence from spore to frond runs the 

 gauntlet of many dangers and is able to pass in safety only be- 

 cause of its surprising adaptability. The normal prothallium 

 rarely lives longer than a few months, but if its purpose is 

 thwarted there seems to be no limit to its span of life. Instances 

 are known in which prothallia have been kept thus for more than 

 seven years and then possessed sufficient vitality to produce new 

 plants. The archegonia are borne on the darker underside of the 

 prothallium, but if this is exposed to the light, these organs will 

 be borne on the upper surface also. If quartered, each section of 

 the prothallium will strike root and grow almost as rapidly as if 

 undivided, and if the sectioning has been done so that the arche- 

 gonia and antheridia are on different pieces, the organs belonging 

 to different species may be brought together and various hybrids 

 produced. Investigations along these lines have been scarcely 

 begun and further study may disclose more curious facts. 



* 



In a recent publication we find what to many 

 SOME PECULIAR botanists will be a new use of terms to distinguish 

 NOMENCLA- the type of a species from its forms or varieties. 

 TURE This consists in the repetition of the specific name. 



Thus, to indicate the true type of the Christmas 

 fern, our author would write Dryopteris acrostichoides acrosti- 

 choides. But it is not until we examine its application in some 

 such case as that of the homely and familiar sassafras, that the 

 full possibilities of this principle becomes apparent. The sassa- 

 fras, as most are aware, was named when there was apparently 

 no extra names to spare, in consequence of which its generic, 



