-8 4 - 



difficult of detection, even when abundant, in the leafy mould 

 they delight to grow in. They may, therefore, yet reward 

 patient search in many localities heretofore supposed to be barren 

 of them. 



Philadelphia. 



irichomanes Petersii A. Gray. This rare fern has figured so 



slightly in literature that, in giving an account of its re- 



discovery by Mr. Charles L. Pollard and myself, at an 

 almost unknown station last summer, I shad recapitulate the 

 main facts in its history. It was described by Dr. Grayf from 

 specimens sent to him by Judge Thos. M. Peters, collected January 

 8th, 1853, in " Hancock (now Winston) county, Alabama, not far 

 from the Sipsey river; found only on the face of an isolated sand- 

 stone rock within the reach of the spray of a waterfall which is 

 supplied most of the season." Specimens collected at various 

 dates by Judge Peters were distributed to the principal herbaria; 

 but aside from these, I think the fern has been only once collected 

 at the type locality, viz: by Professor L. M. Underwood, on June 

 rst, 1896. After continued search he finally found it "creeping 

 under the roof of shelving rocks" near the Sipsey river, T. 8, 

 R. q, Sect. 10, Winston county, but at some distance from any 

 falling water.}: 



The National Herbarium contains specimens collected by Dr. 

 Charles Mohr in 1S80, at Black Creek Falls, near Gadsden, 

 Etowah county, Alabama. Upon July 29th last, Mr. Pollard 

 and myself, after a most painstaking search, succeeded in re- 

 discovering the fern at this station, concerning which nothing 

 has previously been made known. Unlike tne situation de- 

 scribed by Professor Underwood, our plants grew in considerable 

 moisture, on the sloping sides of wet sandstone rocks at the base 

 of dripping cliffs. They were apparently limited to a single 

 small stretch a few feet in extent, and grew partly in thick mats 

 (as described by Judge Peters), but commonly forming only a 

 sparse network of creeping stems, as in Professor Underwood's 



♦Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution. 



t Am. Jour. Sci. and Arts (2d Series) 15 : 326. 1853. 

 ;Bot. Gaz. 22: 4:2. 1896. 



NOTES ON AMERICAN FERNS: III.* 



By William R. Maxon. 



