EDITORIAL 



In honor of the completion of fifteen volumes of this 

 magazine, and at the solicitation of numerous sub- 

 scribers, the editor has been led to use his portrait as a 

 frontispiece in this issue. Our critics may now observe 

 how fifteen years of fighting for a sane nomenclature 

 and a reasonable interpretation of the species concept 

 has furrowed the editorial brow, silvered his raven locks, 

 and put a general crimp into his ambition to make every- 

 body interested in ferns. But even a careful look at the 

 features presented will fail to discover any inclination 

 to give up the fight. As an additional contribution,- the 

 editor has autographed the copies intended for sub- 

 scribers. Anybody who prefers a plain copy may ex- 

 change his autographed copy for it, and those who do not 

 get an autographed copy may have one by returning the 

 regular copy, and requesting it. 



* * * 



In this issue we reprint an extended article on the 

 ecology of some tropical ferns which we think our readers 

 will find worth a careful reading. The ways in which 

 ferns have adjusted themselves to their position in life 

 must ever be of absorbing interest to all who are not 

 mere fern collectors. Considerable pleasure may be 

 gained by an investigation of our own ferns in the light 

 which this article throws upon them. Touching this sub- 

 ject, however, it may be said in passing that the subject 

 of plant ecology is still so new that it is quite possible 

 that many of the deductions thus far made may not 

 hold when further evidence is forthcoming. The article 

 is one that should stimulate thought and experiment 

 among our own fern students, with a view to proving 

 or disproving the ideas held at present. 



128 



