﻿THE FERX BULLETIN" 



23 



fems by other than sexual processes, and seems con- 

 fined to this single species in our fern flora. 



Spore-bearing in the Crest Ferx. — Besides those 

 ferns which have their vegetative and spore-producing 

 fronds separate, such as the cinnamon fern (Osmund a 

 cinnamomea) and the curly-grass (Schizaea pusilla), 

 there are many others that have the two functions more 

 or less restricted to separate fronds. Thus in many 

 of the Nephr odiums the spore-bearing fronds are nar- 

 rower than those which are sterile, but the presence of 

 green tissue shows that even the fertile fronds aid in 

 the vegetative work of the plant. One of the most 

 conspicuous examples of the differentiation that has 

 taken place between the two sorts of fronds is found 

 in N. cristatum where the fertile are not only narrower 

 but are taller more erect and not so long lived. The 

 sterile spread out on the earth and last through the 

 winter, while the fertile seldom do so. That the sep- 

 aration of the two is not so fixed as one might be in- 

 clined to infer, however, is shown by a frond recently 

 sent from Kutztown. Pa., by C. L. Gruber. In this, al- 

 though the frond is manifestly a sterile one in form, it 

 is quite well supplied with sporangia. 



Writings of Alvah H. Eatox. — In Rhodora for 

 December 1908. Miss M. A. Day published a list of the 

 writings of the late A. A. Eaton, consisting of 52 titles 

 covering a period of about ten years — the period in 

 which the study of our ferns has proceeded with the 

 greatest activitv. The majority of Mr. Eaton's con- 

 tributions to science appeared in the Fern Bulletin, but 

 he also published in Rhodora, Torrey Bulletin and 

 Proceedings of the Biological Society of IJ r ashington 

 In the same number of Rhodora also appears a tribute 



