I50 



obviated by soaking basket and plants in a bath of water, 

 say, once a week. A pulley is in requisition for this 

 purpose — thus the required immersion can be nicely 

 regulated. I may here point out that a well-furnished 

 basket of ferns is an artistic addition to any fernery. 

 Unfortunately the illustration (Frontispiece, December 

 "British Fern Gazette") only shows the bases of three 

 such adornments. As to the contents, they comprise 

 most of the elite, and a fair form or two may be considered. 

 Polypodmm viilgave camhvicum is a good, if not rare thing, 

 and a basket or a pan full of its creeping rhizomes, with 

 their accompanying *' plumes," forms an ornamental 

 foliage plant of no common kind. Another variety, but 

 of Cornish origin, viz. cornuhiense, or elegantissinmm, is 

 worthy of a place, and although it is somewhat erratic 

 in frond division, it is an interesting example of the 

 mutability of species. 



Prestonii is an improved and denser form of camhricum, 

 and gvandiceps (Parker) is a curious conglomeration of 

 crispy crests. There are several bifid varieties, and one 

 acntum form, which I keep as a souvenir from the Great 

 Orme's Head, 1894, ^^"^ Y^^ another, which Dr. Stansfield 

 has described as "curious and interesting," a form I found 

 near Dolgelly in 1901. This form, which is somewhat 

 inconstant, has short rounded lobes, after the fashion of a 

 Cetevach, and when in character is an improvement on 

 Mr. Phillips' votundatuni. Then we have two other species 

 of this genus — Polypodinm Phegopteris (Beech Fern) and 

 P. Dvyopteris (Oak Fern). Notwithstanding their fanciful 

 names, botanic and vulgar — the one, in fact, is a 

 translation of the other — they are useful little ferns, 

 and revel in shade and moisture. A slight variety of 

 the former, with tiny furcate tips, was, I think, found by 

 Mr. Whitwell. Anyhow it has found a houie on my 

 rockery, and always comes true in the matter of these 

 small dilations. Otherwise it is of no value as a variety, 

 but in association with the Oak Fern — in colour the 



