EDITORIAL. 



When this number should have been made up, the 

 HENCE THE editor was persuing ferns in the mountains of 

 DELAY Jamaica, too far away from a post-office to make 



it possible to issue on time. We trust our readers 

 will excuse us for once. Jamaica is probably the richest island in 

 the world as regards ferns, having one for every four flowering 

 plants. After rather a surplus of adventures we succeeded in 

 collecting more than half the number of species with many dupli- 

 cates. The publication of a list of those collected, with notes, 

 will be begun in the next number of this journal. 



* * 



There are not a few fern students who find the 

 TWIN lines separating certain species too close for com- 



SPECIES? fort. As an instance, the case of Botrychium 



obliquum and B. dissection may be cited. While 

 the discussion whether one is really a variety of the other is in 

 progress we may hazard the suggestion that perhaps they may 

 both be forms of the same species. This conception assumes 

 that out of a thousand spores of either form, a part would be 

 like the parent, and the rest be like the other form. Some such 

 phenomenon as this is strongly suspicioned in the case of some 

 violets and grasses and offers a chance for some investigating 

 botanist to reap glory for himself by proving or disproving this 

 theory. Unfortunately the difficulties in the way of settling the 

 Botrychium matter are practically insurmountable. One of our 

 best known fern students scoffs at the idea that the two ferns 

 above mentioned could be two forms of the same thing, but such 

 a theory has many parallels in fact in the animal world and we 

 may be somewhat premature in denying that it occurs in the 

 plant world as well. 



The common names of natural objects are always 

 COMMON of interest and value, provided they bear the 



NAMES stamp of genuineness and are not coined at the 



private mint of some popularizer of nature study. 

 With the latter we have no patience whatever. There is seldom 

 need for a common name to be manufactured, for the simple rea- 

 son that if the object is commonly known it will be found to have 

 a common name already. Not infrequently this is an adoption of 



