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that we must not be too quick to conclude we have a new 

 species just because it is not exactly like what we as- 

 sume the nearest old species to be. We are still with 

 Mr, Davenport in maintaining- that Botrychium matri- 

 caricefolium is common to both Europe and America. 



Florida Crest Fern. — There are many ways of recog- 

 nizing a species that are not set down in the manuals. 

 Often the mere habit or way in which a plant grows, 

 whether upright or trailing, may be sufficient to identify 

 it, even as one passes it swiftly on the railway. Coming 

 down to smaller matters, a difference in veining may 

 serve to distinguish two closely allied species. Mrs. A. P. 

 Taylor notes that while the cinnamon fern has been known 

 from its tufts of wool in the angles of the veins, the 

 Florida crest fern (Nephrodium Floridanum) has these 

 tufts much larger and may be distinguished by this 

 feature. 



Variable Xfphrodium Cristatum. — In recent years 

 much — too much, some are inclined to think — has been 

 made of the variations in the common wood fern (Ne- 

 phrodium spinuiosum) to the exclusion of variations 

 quite as striking in allied species. This is brought to 

 notice by the observation of Mr. A. A. Eaton in the 

 recently issued 14th Annual Report of the Fern Society, 

 that different localities are likely to present different 

 forms of the crest fern (N, Cristatum) and that these 

 varieties prove constant under cultivation. One dif- 

 ference often remarked in specimens of this fern from 

 eastern localities is that they average broader than west- 

 ern forms. It will be worth while to be on the watch 

 for unusual forms of any kind in this species. While 

 upon this subject it may be well to reiterate the idea 

 slowly gaining acceptance, that from the modern view- 

 point the plant called Nephrodium cristatum clintonianum 

 is entitled to specific rank and should be known as Ne- 

 phrodium Clintonianum or Aspidium Clintonianum. 



