our warm western coasts or sheltered caves and cliffs. All the 

 rest stand frost with impunity, and as they are lovers of 

 shady conditions which are unfitted for healthy floral 

 cultivation, they are particularly adapted for culture in 

 thousands of conservatories whence sunshine is largely 

 excluded by their position, while for shady rockeries in the 

 open a good collection can be made of abounding interest. 

 Finally, the British Fern cult or hobby possesses that great 

 advantage over what we may term inorganic hobbies, 

 such as bric-a-brac, postage stamps and curio collections 

 generally, in that it deals with the inexhaustible wonders of 

 Nature at first hand. The fern hunter in his quest 

 traverses the most beautiful parts of the kingdom, pursues 

 his rambles through them, enjoying fresh air and revelling 

 in lovely prospects in the intervals when his intently 

 roving eye can withdraw itself from the ferns which line 

 the way, and which, to the experienced hunter, rivet his 

 attention upon them by the recognised fact that at any 

 moment a prize may turn up to reward his perseverance, 

 and which, unlike the bric-a-brac or the postage stamp, 

 may eventually be multiplied ad infinitum if he deems 

 it precious enough to justify the trouble. C. T. D. 



THE LIFE HISTORY OF A FERN. 



As the thorough-going Fern student should know some- 

 thing more than the mere outward aspects of the Fern by 

 which he is enabled to determine the species, it will not be 

 out of place to give in as non-technical a way as possible, a 

 short account of how ferns differ from flowering plants, and 

 how, despite the absence of flowers and obvious seed, they 

 manage to reproduce themselves. In the first place, then, 

 Ferns belong to the spore producing tribes of plants as 

 distinct from the seed-bearing or flowering ones, and since 

 fertilization is an essential to constant reproduction and the 

 persistence of a species while the spore difl"ers from a seed 

 in not being the outcome of such fertilization, it becomes 

 necessary to know how and where this vital function is 

 fulfilled. A seed, as we know, simply requires to be sowa 



