FERN HUNTING IN WINTER. 



Although we have only had one experience of winter 

 fern hunting in this country, we were so abundantly con- 

 vinced by that one that it was not only profitable, but in 

 some respects presented advantages over other seasons, 

 that we feel that we can honestly recommend it. The 

 deciduous species, such as Lady Ferns and most of the 

 Lastreas, are, of course, placed out of court by their invisi- 

 bility, but the evergreens, the Shield Ferns, Hartstongues, 

 Polypodium vulgave, Blechnum spicant and all the Spleen worts 

 retain their foliage in congenial districts in such good 

 condition that varieties may easily be recognised. 



The main advantage in winter hunting is, that while in 

 the summer and autumn vast numbers of ferns are mixed 

 up and more or less hidden by various rank growths of 

 other vegetation, most of this, being deciduous, disappears 

 when frost sets in, and this permits of much easier inspec- 

 tion of the associated ferns than at any other time. A 

 handicap in the late summer months and the early autumn 

 ones is, that the mixed growth of wayside ferns and weeds 

 in the roads and lanes is ruthlessly cut down, for tidiness 

 sake, so that perhaps for miles, except in the higher parts 

 of the hedges and banks, nothing is left of the ferns but 

 the stumps of the fronds, so that the chance of detecting 

 variations is practically nil. Later on, however, there 

 arises a fresh growth of the ferns, so that by the time the 

 growing season is over they are again in evidence, to 

 reward the keen search of the variety hunter, should any 

 variety exist. 



As a consequence of these facts, it will be seen that, 

 leaving the deciduous ferns out of the question, the whole 

 of the winter and the early spring present capital oppor- 

 tunities for hunting, and reduce the off-season to a 

 minimum. As a matter of fact, as mentioned in a previous 

 article, a winter hunt at Christmas in the Torquay district 

 yielded some very good finds of Havtstonguc, in a locality, 

 moreover, so much within the town limits, that ferns of 

 any kind were very scarce. One of these, found high up 



