THE LINNAEAN FERN CHAPTER 



OF THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. 



The Second Meeting of the Chapter. 



Seven years have passed since the Linnsean Fern Chapter 

 was organized and during that time, although the membership 

 has constantly increased, but two meetings have been held. The 

 second of these was held at the New York Botanical Garden, New 

 York City, on June 27th. President Maxon called the meeting to 

 order at 1 130 p. m. Prof. L. M. Underwood delivered the address 

 of welcome on behalf of the Garden authorities and this was re- 

 sponded to by the president who briefly sketched the Chapter's 

 history. 



Owing to the limited time for the reading of papers, it was 

 decided that the papers of those who were not there to read them, 

 be read by title, only. Accordingly Mr. Eaton's paper on "The 

 Genus Isoetes in New England." Wizard N. Clute's paper on "A 

 Fern's Struggle for Existence in the Tropics," and the paper by 

 Chas. T. Druery, F. L. S. on "Notes on the Boston Papers of 

 189S " were so read. These papers will appear in full in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Meeting. 



The first paper presented was by Miss Margaret Slosson, who 

 delegated Mr. Maxon to read it. It was entitled "Experiments 

 in Hybridizing Ferns." Mr. Davenport, commenting upon the 

 paper, said that Miss Slosson is the first American to successfully 

 experiment along this line. Mr. B. D. Gilbert followed with his 

 paper on "Athyrium as a Genus," in which he gave his reasons 

 for considering this a valid genus. Mr. Davenport also made 

 brief comments on this paper. Mr. Percy Wilson's paper on the 

 " Habit of the Ferns about New York City" mentioned the species 

 he had found in the vicinity with localities for them. 



Prof. Underwood's " Review of the Classification of Ferns as 

 given in Engler- Prantl," criticised some of the German ideas of 

 classification, but agreed with them in the main, especially as re- 

 gards genera. The program concluded with Mr. William R. 

 M axon's paper on "The Occurrence of the Hartstongue in 

 America," in which he mentioned all the known stations for the 

 fern and gave an extensive bibliography of the subject. 



— The new list of members shows one hundred and twelve 

 names. There has never been a time in our history when the 

 membership has decreased. All interested in ferns are invited to 

 join. 



