19101 The Ottawa Naturalist. 71 



the wood, especially about a woodman's path, its next of kin, 

 the New York Fern {Aspidium novehoracense); the only two 

 species of Aspidium destitute of chaff about the stipe, with 

 peculiarly delicate and glabrous texture of frond. The Marsh 

 Fern has a very short rhachis and remarkably long stipe; the 

 lowest pair of pinnae are as long as those immediately above them, 

 and the pinnules become strongly contracted in fruit, the margins 

 being revolute over the sori. The New York Fern tapers both 

 -ways, the longest pinnae being about the centre of the frond; 

 the pinnules are not contracted in fruit, the colour of the fern is 

 pale yellowish-green, whereas that of the Marsh Fern is often 

 bluish-green, certainly darker than the New York Fern. 



Other Aspidiums found in this wood besides those already 

 mentioned are the Marginal, the Crested (with its variant the 

 Clinton's) and the Prickly. Aspidium marginale is easily re- 

 cognized by its thick leathery frond, having the sori placed at the 

 extreme outer margin of the pinnules. It is not common, as its 

 preference is for rocky banks and woods, but under a group of 

 pines in an elevated corner of the wood a few plants subsist near 

 some glacial boulders. Aspidium cristatum's choice of home is 

 within the swamps and bogs ; there is quite a striking difference 

 between the fruiting and the barren fronds ; the latter are shorter, 

 lax and more or less prostrate, often growing outwards on all 

 sides of the rootstock, rosette-fashion ; right in the centre of these 

 you will see 3 or 4 tall rigid fronds, the pinnae standing out 

 almost at right angles to the rhachis and twisted round on their 

 bases from a vertical to a horizontal position so that the under 

 side of the pinna, with its fruiting clusters, is facing the ground 

 and hidden from the light, while the upper sides appear to be 

 "taking the sun " ; the outline of the frond is more or less oblong, 

 the pinnae from the base almost to the apex being practically of 

 one uniform length. Aspidium spinulosum is one of the most 

 variable of ferns, yet always easily recognized by its finely-cut 

 frond, the lobes ending in a prickle or acuminate tip. It is quite 

 common and one of our handsomest ferns; I saw a plant of it 

 to-day (June 15) in a wood I have been speaking of; a tree, 

 fallen or felled years ago, had left a stump some 3 feet high; the 

 top of this was rotted out to a depth of more than a foot ; in the 

 centre of this natural flowerpot was growing a magnificent plant 

 of the Prickly Shield Fern; I counted 25 fronds, most of them 

 well over 2 feet in height and fruiting profusely. Being evergreen 

 it is often kept by florists o^er the winter, in some cool damp 

 place, and used at Christmas for foliage with carnations and 

 other cut flowers of the hothouse. 



Altogether, out of 24 species of fern that I have found in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of Port Hope, this little wood 



