often in close proximity. Two rather small but fruiting plants of D. Goldieana × marginalis were found, evidently off-shoots of a single original plant. The plants are now growing at the New York Botanical Garden where they will not only have good conditions for growth, but will also be protected from chance injury by cattle, or careless or ignorant collectors. It is suggested that

rare hybrids constitute a type of plant which it is advisable always to protect by transplanting if proper care can be given them, since otherwise a locality may easily happen to be lost or destroyed.

Dryopteris simulata Davenport.

Two localities are here reported which it is believed extend the range considerably, at least in New York state.

At Quiver Pond, about one quarter mile south of the central part of Fourth Lake, Herkimer County, N. Y. The fern grew here in abundance, forming dense clumps on the higher portions of a sphagnum swamp. A few scattered plants of D. Thelypteris were also seen, but apparently it did not thrive there as well as its less common relative.

A second locality was noted at Horseshoe, St. Lawrence County, where the fern grew in a situation similar to that at Quiver Pond. So far as the writer knows the only previous collection north of the lower part of the state is that of H. D. House near Oneida Lake, and the occurrence so far to the north suggests that the fern may eventually be found in Canada. It is likely, too, that it will prove to be much commoner than has been supposed.

Dryopteris dilatata (Hoffm.) Gray.

On Blue Mt., N. Y., from about 3,000 feet to the summit. This find was of particular interest to me as it was my first opportunity to see this fern in its natural habitat. Its range was overlapped for perhaps two or three hundred feet (in altitude) by D. intermedia (Muhl.) Gray from which, however, it could easily be distinguished in size, shape, and texture. D. spinulosa (Müll.) Ktze., which in this country is usually considered to include the two preceding, was not seen at all.

The use of the binomial D. dilatata is in agreement with a common practice in Europe, and has been supported, and rightly as it seems to me, by many well-known fern students. D. intermedia (Muhl.) Gray, which does not occur in Europe, I believe to be similarly distinct, and hope later to give sufficient reason for this opinion.

Osmunda cinnamomea L.

mer.

Two aberrant forms of this species were noted during the sumThe first was a physiological freak, apparently a variant from the frondosa form which is known to occur on burnt-over land, as was the case at the locality in question, a roadside swamp in the town of Cornwall, Ct. The peculiarity of the frondosa form is the replacement of some of the fertile pinnae by green vegetative ones so that a single frond shows both sorts. In the present instance, the frondosa form was not seen but apparently the same result, an increase of the vegetative tissue, was attained. The fronds appeared strongly crested owing to a more or less irregular enlargement of the pinnulae which, besides being expanded and curled, were mostly deeply dentate. Few fertile fronds were seen.

The other form was first found by Miss Harriet Mulford near Hempstead, Long Island, where several plants were seen. Later I found two plants in the Cornwall swamp above mentioned. The peculiarity in this consisted in an excessive development of the lower basal pinnulae which in many cases were at least half as long as the pinnae themselves. As the fronds were nearly erect, and the pinnae about horizontal, the effect was to give the fronds a thick plumy appearance, making the plants exceptionally attractive from a horticultural standpoint.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.

THE CEDAR OF LEBANON*

BY MARY PERLE ANDERSON

Religion, poetry, and history have all united to make famous the cedars of Mount Lebanon. Again and again they have been visited by the pilgrim, by the distinguished traveller, by the man of science. Grave doubts exist, however, as to whether the tree now known as the cedar of Lebanon, Cedrus Libani Barr, is the one so frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, for these cedars occupy a lofty and isolated position. They are twenty miles from the coast, in a rocky mountain valley at a height of six thousand feet on the side of Mount Lebanon, and about four thousand feet from its summit. Therefore they could have been transported to Jerusalem only with the greatest difficulty and expense. The wood, too, is inferior in color and durability to the wood of the more common cypress and juniper, and it is probable that one or the other of these more easily accessible trees was used for building purposes in the days of Solomon. The botanical history of the cedar of Lebanon is less varied than that of many humbler plants. Linnaeus, a pine; Poiret, a spruce. magna, and in 1714, Barrelier gave Cedrus Libani.

Tournefort called it a larch ; Dodonaeus named it Cedrus the tree its present name of

During the sixteenth century it became so much of a custom to make a pilgrimage to the cedars of Mount Lebanon that it was necessary to take steps for the preservation of the trees, for the pious pilgrims carried away much wood for the construction of crosses and tabernacles. In this the Maronites were more successful than we of the present day in our efforts to preserve our forests and native wild flowers. They issued an edict threatening excommunication to all who should injure the trees. Not even a branch was allowed to be cut except once a year, when, on the eve of the Transfiguration, a festival known as the Feast of the Cedars was held, and an altar was built under one of the largest and oldest of the trees.

From the middle of the sixteenth century, we have the records

* Illustrated with the aid of the McManes fund.

of many famous travellers and scientists who visited the cedars. In 1550, Belon reports the number as twenty-eight, and says, "No other tree grows in the valley in which they are situated;

The Cedar of Lebanon in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris.

and it is generally so covered with snow as to be only accessible in summer." In 1574, Raiewolf gives the number as twenty-six, but adds, "There are two others the branches whereof are quite

damaged for age. I also went about in this place to look for some young ones but could find none at all." In 1655, Thévenot said that there were twenty-three trees, and a half century later a reliable witness writes of the cedars, “Here are some very old and of prodigious bulk, and others younger and of a smaller size. Of the former, I could reckon up only sixteen, the latter are very numerous."

In 1722, La Roque tells us that the largest of the trees had a trunk nineteen feet in circumference and a head one hundred and twenty feet in circumference. In 1744, Pocoke says there are "fifteen large ones and a great number of young cedars." In 1829, Pariset writes, "There are not above a dozen large trees, but there may be 400-500 small ones," and in 1832, there is a note of pathos in Lamartine's simple statement, "There are now but seven large trees."

sors.

In the autumn of 1860, J. D. Hooker visited the famous trees and in the November number of the Natural History Review of the year 1862, gives a fuller account of them than his predecesIn this article, we read that on the side of the mountain, the cedars" appear as a black speck in the great area of corry and its moraines, which contain no other arboreous vegetation, nor any shrubs, but a few small berberry and rose bushes, that form no feature in the landscape. The number of the trees is about four hundred; they form a single group about four hundred yards in diameter with one or two outstanding trees not far from the rest. They are disposed in nine groups corresponding to as many hummocks of the moraine on which they occur." With regard to number, Hooker says that there were only fifteen. trees above fifteen feet in girth and only two others above twelve feet. As to size, they varied from eighteen inches to forty feet in girth. He himself says that it is a significant fact that there was no tree of less than eighteen inches girth, not even seedlings of a second year's growth.

The above records seem to indicate that conditions favorable for the germination and growth of new trees come only at long intervals in this isolated valley on the side of Mount Lebanon. What the conditions are that govern the increase of population