THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



17 



Several flowers are now known which affect the photo- 

 graphic plate as those of the sunflower do, but whether this is 

 clue to reflections of ultra-violet light or to some other cause 

 does not seem to be known at present. The facts at hand, how- 

 ever, may serve to show how far w^e are yet from a complete 

 understanding of the relations of flowers to insects and to 

 render us somewhat cautious in interpreting insect behavior in 

 terms of our own experience. 



THE SPINULOSE SHIELD FERN 



By Adella Prescott. 



/^^XE of the things that impresses the thoughtful observer 

 is the fundamental good sense of Nature in spite of her 

 many freaks and whimsies, and nowhere does this good sense 

 appear to better advantage than in the lavish manner with 

 which she flings beauty broadcast over the land while carefully 

 reserving the adjective ''rare" for plants that frequently have 

 little other claim to distinction. Especially is this true of ferns, 

 for while the adder's tongue and the small Botrychiums among 

 our rarest ferns have neither height nor beauty to commend 

 them, the spinulose shield fern, which is very plentiful over a 

 wide range, is one of our most beautiful species. 



This fern, Ncphrodiuiii spinuiosuin, with one or both of 

 its varieties may be found in almost any bit of woodland where 

 the soil is deep and moist. Perhaps it would be more accurate 

 tO' say that its varieties may be so found for both of them seem 

 to be much more common than the type, which is rather rare 

 in this locality (central New York). But the varieties shade 

 intO' each other so imperceptibly that it is not easy to put each 

 specimen in its proper place. This is more particularly the case 

 with true spinuiosuin and the variety intermcdiuni for their 

 differences are often so slight that it would puzzle even an ex- 



