—84— 



at io inches. This possibly is due to want of light. The 

 wonder comes as to how they got there. It is true they 

 have a way of isolating themselves, but when I looked 

 down in that hole it seemed that the seeds were sown 

 there by the Creator himself , at the time " the morning 

 stars sang together." This is surrounded by a fringe of 

 as rich and luxuriant Woodsias, Christmas ferns, and 

 Aspidiums as can be found in any place, and on top we 

 saw arums, sedum, Solomon's seal, lead-plant, and many 

 others that grew on those rich benches. The location of 

 this fern at such a place may be a hint to those looking 

 for Scolopendrium. Look in the ground for it. 

 Bridgeport, Ala. 



THE FORMS OF BOTRYCHIUM SIMPLEX 



By George E. Davenport. 



I read Air. Gilbert's note on the forms of Botrychium 

 simplex in the Fern Bulletin for July, 1905, with much 

 interest, but the forms are by no means so uncommon at 

 the present time as his note indicates. When in 1877 mv 

 monograph on B. simplex was published, the species was 

 considered as one of the rarest of all our ferns, yet even 

 at that time my monograph contained citations for. and 

 figures of, several specimens of eompositum from Ma- 

 coun, Dr. Parry, John Muir, Rev. J. Hermann Wibbe, 

 Miss Pelton and Mrs. Charles Barnes. Since then I have 

 examined many collections, quite a number of which con- 

 tained one or more specimens of eompositum, which, as I 

 showed in my monograph, is the fully matured form of 

 the species itself, and, therefore, not a true variety. Lasch 

 originally described two forms of his variety eompositum, 

 one being binate with two divisions each corresponding 

 to variety incisum (Milde), and the other ternate with 

 three divisions, their common stalk being lengthened, and 

 the fertile panicle starting from well down near the base 

 of the whole plant, exactly as in B. ternatum. 



