- 4 8- 



really S. ternatum Calif ornicum (Underw.) and S. Coul- 

 teri (Underw.) Lyon is S. ternatum Coulteri (Underw.). 

 While S. dissectum (Spreng.) Lyon is mere 5\ ternatum 

 dissectum (Spreng.) and S\ Jenmani (Underw.) Lyon is 

 only, S. ternatum Jenmani (Underw.) how easy it would 

 be to give these their rightful standing and displace 

 Lyon's name with our own. Sceptridium tenuifolium 

 (Underw.) Lyon is almost universally regarded as a 

 mere form — S. ternatum tenuifolium (Underw.) and so 

 is 6\ Underwoodianum (Maxon) Lyon, which should be 

 «5\ ternatum Underzuoodianum (Maxon). If anyone 

 chooses to cite these and others in the list with a proper 

 show of synonomy and citation of publication he may ulti- 

 mately be cited in the scientific name of nearly half of 

 them. In no wise would such changes alter our own 

 opinion of the parts they represent and I submit that the 

 addition o'f the second author citation is both unneces- 

 sary and undesirable. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF BOTRYCHIA. 



In the first installment of your Check List of the North 

 American Fernworts several species are assigned a 

 habitat which is at variance with my experience and ob- 

 servation. For Botrychium matricaricefolium you have, 

 " Rare ; in moist shades.'' I have collected the plant in 

 Maine and Vermont. In Maine I find it locally abundant 

 in sterile fields and pastures ; in Vermont occasional in 

 rich woods or hillside pastures. In Fern Bulletin X. 

 p. 55, Mr. A. A. Eaton writes of having " seen a quar- 

 ter acre almost completely covered with B. matricarice- 

 folium several years in succession." Xow, I would 

 venture to guess that the locality referred to was a sandy 

 pasture infested with sweet fern and spreading juniper. 

 Certainly this Botrychium is not entitled to be called rare 

 in northern New England. As it grows in dry fields it 

 develops many freakish forms which might easily suggest 

 the name neglectum, while in woods it is usually smooth 



