174 West 87th Street, New Y@rk, 8 June 1903. 
v. 
Mr. George E. Davenport, 
Medferd, Mass. 
My dear Mr. Davenport:- 
I am sending you by express seme ferns ©n which I sheuld like 
y©ur ©pinion. I celledted them last August in a moist shaded ravine 
at St. Jchnsbury Verment. The previous season I found a fee plants 
in the same place and was confident it was a form unknown t© me. 
Last year I f»und the plants very variable , net a great number 
at the station, and at first they seemed to me distinct, but later 
I thought they would have to be called Dryepteris cristata Clintcni- 
ana, though they had a darker color and softer texture than is usual 
with that f©rm. 
Some ©f these specimens correspond pretty well with a specimen of 
your Nephrodium cristatum Slossonae sent by Miss Slossen: I should 
like te know if that is what you would call them. Y®ur original de¬ 
scription ©f that form is net very full , and yet I am very well 
aware that sometimes it is almost impossible t© characterize adequate¬ 
ly a form which ©ne is convinced is distinct. In the field these forms 
would seem more distinct from ethers. 
I have used numbers by which you can report the different specimens 
in case you care to keep them. 
Yours very respectfully. 
My address after June 11th will be 
©maston. Coran 
