24 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



chium Virginianum) and ternate grape fern {B. terna- 

 tum). The evergreen wood fern {Nephrodum marginale) 

 andspinulose wood fern (AT. spinulosum var. intermedium) 

 grew to great size here in the rich leaf-mold and the only 

 specimen of Clinton's wood fern (AT. cristatumxixr . Clinton- 

 ianum) which I have found grew in these woods. In the 

 gulf the bulblet bladder fern {Cystopten's hiilhifera) fairly 

 covered the rocks in some places, reaching out its long 

 feather3^ fronds toward the little water-fall that almost 

 disappears in midsummer. The fragile bladder fern (C. 

 fragilis) grows on the rocks above the falls but is less 

 common than C. hulhifera. On the opposite side of the 

 gulf, just within the border of the woods, is a small patch 

 of broad beech fern {Phegopteris hexagonoptera) . Be- 

 tween woods and pasture the ha3'-scented fern {Dicksonia 

 pilosiuscula) and the New York i&m {Nephrodum nove- 

 horacense) make great beds of soft gray -green. The brake 

 fern (Pteris aquilina) grows on the open slopes of the pas- 

 ture and the lady fern {Athyrium tilixfoemina) borders the 

 woods and grows among the stones of the tumble down 

 wall. 



Most of these ferns were found in my first summer's 

 fern-hunting. On the top of the Roll Way, an almost per- 

 pendicular wall of rock which shuts in the valley on the 

 south, I found my first little oak fern {Phegopteris d'ryop- 

 teris) covering the shad\' knolls under the silver birches, 

 and, lower down, where the rock formation is like that of 

 the North Hill, were similar patches of walking fern. 



Down along the River Road, in the swamps, the marsh 

 fern {Ncphrodium Thelypteris) grows abundantl3', and 

 east of the cit3', on the long stretch of barren rock called 

 the Burnt Rocks, my first specimen of rusty woodsia 

 ( Woodsia Ilvensis) were discovered, growing side b3'- side 

 with saxifrage in crevices of the rock. 



I had looked in the Wintergreen Woods and in several 

 other likeh^ places for roj^al fern {Osmunda regalis) but I 

 never saw it growing until a bird-watching expedition led 

 me far over the Burnt Rocks and into a marsh beyond. 



