22 FERNS. 



which is coloured with purple in the naked part. In a 

 greenhouse it is evergreen. 



The Forked Spleen wort (A. septentrionale, Plate III., 

 Jig. 2), has its fronds divided into three parts, and then 

 forked. We could not find it among the Yorkshire rocks, 

 and I afterwards sought it among the Braid and Black- 

 ford hills, near Edinburgh, but still in vain. It used to 

 grow there, but the nursery gardeners have turned it to 

 profit, and in so doing have exterminated it from its old 

 haunts. I did get sight of some of its tufts, growing 

 out of the basaltic columns called Samson's Kibs, in 

 the Queen's Park ; but it owed its safety to its impreg- 

 nable position, which defied the attempts even of Fern 

 dealers. Despairing of a wild specimen, I was obliged 

 to have recourse to the nurseryman. The fronds are 

 from two to three inches high, the rachis purple at the 

 base, and the seed-masses much elongated. It is found 

 on rocks and walls, in Wales, Westmoreland, and York- 

 shire, as well as in Scotland. 



The Eock Spleen wort (A. fontanum), has never glad- 

 dened our eyes in a wild state. I have seen it growing 

 freely in feneries, and a very pretty complete little 

 cluster its fronds make. About three inches high, with 

 broad, regularly indented leaflets, placed alternately 

 nearly the whole length of the rachis, which is brown, and 

 a dark brown root. The seed-masses here are rather oval 

 than elongated, but they have the family characteristic 

 of opening towards the middle of the leaflet. Its habitat 

 is the highlands of Scotland and Derbyshire. 



We started for a long excursion in search of more 

 specimens, setting forward with hopeful hearts. The ride 



