The use of trinomials by horticulturists does not affect these 

 conclusions, for the true naturalist will in almost every case read- 

 ily discriminate between the natural sub species and the artificial 

 varieties of the gardener and unthinking systematist. These 

 views do not prevent the close student from naming forms with 

 three or more terms when a comparative study of many specimens 

 of a group renders it necessary, but it should be done strictly 

 along ecological lines. 



[While we agree with many of Mr. Palmer's strictures re- 

 garding the burdening of our nomenclature with Latin terms for 

 every variation of a species, we can scarcely subscribe to his 

 assertion that "all valid described forms should be considered 

 species." Present day botanists find that some of the aggregates 

 to which Linnaeus and his contemporaries gave specific names, 

 consist of two or a greater number of species, as species are now 

 recognized. This being so, why is it not also possible to separate 

 from the species a sub-species, naving most of the characters of 

 the type, but also certain points peculiar to itself ? We can con- 

 ceive of such a form continuing and reproducing itself indefinitely 

 in a certain locality, but reverting to the type under other condi- 

 tions. This form is not a species, nor is it a variety in the usual 

 sense. Then, what is it ? Evolutionists must admit of a time 

 when a species, in its spread, exposed to new conditions, may 

 begin to produce another form to take advantage of these condi- 

 tions, but until the new form is fixed, and will not revert to the 

 type, it should be considered a sub species, although possessing 

 characters not found in the type. This is our reason for advo- 

 cating binomials for species, trinomials for variant races, and 

 some other means of indicating forms due to seasonal or acci- 

 dental variation. — Ed.] 



Miss Sadie F. Price records a specimen of Dryopteris spinulosa 

 intermedia from Tennessee with a majority of the pinnae from 

 one to three times forked. 



At Frederick, Md., I found an abundance of Pellcra atropur- 

 purea growing from the masonry of a small bridge. This is built 

 solid, of a granite sort of rock, and I found the fern on the sunny 

 side, mainly, fastening itself in the mortar, but in places in such 

 small depressions of the rock as to be almost incredible. This is 

 an old bridge, but just how the ferns "got there I am at a loss to 

 say. — Guy L. Stewart, College Park, Met. 



In parts of England ferns are called "devil's brushes," and 

 it is thought to be unlucky to gather them. 



