54 



THE AMERICAN BOTANrsT. 



Why Are Species of Rhus Poisonous? — Can the. 

 editor of The American Botanist tell us what use is 

 served by the poisonous species of suma.c — Rhus toxico- 

 dendron, Venenata, and diversiloha? They are such a. 

 serious nuisance to many people by producing, irritating 

 eruptions on the skin, that one cannot hjelp' wondering; 

 why such plants were created, I have recently been inter- 

 ested in reading that full blood Indians are immune from, 

 rhus poisoning ; and it may be that, as these poisonous 

 species are, I think, peculiar to this continent, Nature in- 

 tended them and the Indians to dwell together^, and that 

 it is the white man's own fault if he gets poisoned ! He 

 might have been, saved that trouble by remaining in the 

 Old ^or\d.—C, F.Saunders, Pasadana, Calif.— editor 

 expects to have something to say on this subject in an- 

 other number,] 



Ferns in Wells. — A well was dug on a bluff four miles 

 west of Dallas and two j^ears later I found a plant of 

 maiden-hair {Adiantum CapilJus-Veneris) growing in it. 

 It puzzled me at the time for I did not know that such 

 ferns were found in the neighborhood. I have since found 

 two stations ; one three miles south of the well, the other 

 six miles east. Another fern was found in a well at Lan- 

 caster. Although the plant had no sporangia, I deter- 

 mined it to be the lady fern {Asplenium £lix-foemina) but 

 no such fern or any similar to it grows in that locality. 

 The nearest station is about one hundred miles east of 

 Lancaster, So we must conclude that the spores had been 

 carried by the wind into the wells. In this case they cer- 

 tainly had a long way to travel.—/. Reverchon^ Dallas^ 

 Texas. [The editor has noted, in The Fern Bulletin, the 

 finding of the oak fern (Phegopteris Dryopteris) in a well 

 in the pine barrens of southern New Jersey. This is more 

 than a hundred miles from the nearest known station for 

 the fern. It would be interesting to know whether these 

 are from adventive spores, or whether the spores of these 

 and other species are constantly raining down upon in- 

 hospitable regions.] 



