233 



We now descend a step into that part of the conservatory 

 which represents an extension of the short one originally 

 built, and to which we have adverted above, and here we 

 find a large oblong central step-staging with lateral step 

 stages all round with red tiled pathways between and a 

 wide shelf across the end, which is entirely of glass, while 

 the sides are of wood or brickwork for half their height. 

 The chief ornaments in the centre consist of another huge 

 specimen of P. acul. ptilchevvimum^ the actual parent of the 

 new batch in question, WoUaston's P.ang.cvistatum No. lo, 

 a gem of first water, and also one of A. f.f. phimosum 

 Dvuery, the latter a single crown division of the original, 

 Wills' A. f.f. pi lunosuiii, a presumed cross of the writer's 

 effected between A. f.f. pevcristatum Cousensii and A. f.f. 

 Kalothvix, but only suggesting the influence of the latter by 

 its elongated pinnules, the original A. f.f. superbiim, from 

 which sprang all the " superbum " strain now so prominent 

 among the elite of the Lady Fern tribe, including plumosum 

 Dviievy itself, several choice descendents of same, L. p. m. 

 ramosissima, L. f. in. polydadyla Dadds, a grand Scol. v. 

 crispttm (Stablerae), 5. v. sagittato grandiceps, a curio with a 

 sort of triple bunch crest on the top of a bare stalk, raised 

 by the writer from a merely suhsagittate lohatnm (one of 

 nine ail alike), Mr. Alexander Cowan's beautifully crested 

 Pseudathyrium alpestvc, several fine plumose Polystichums of the 

 Stansfield strain and a score or two of other interesting 

 varieties on a smaller scale, including a mottled crested 

 Lady Fern, presumably a Cousensii seedling, but variegated. 

 This central group is very interesting, and we may here 

 indicate an essential point in its arrangement and that of 

 the other shelving around it, viz. that all is so arranged 

 that every plant is within easy reach, experience having 

 taught us that otherwise it is not only difficult to examine 

 and appreciate, but sooner or later plants of difficult access 

 are bound to be neglected. On the left hand shelving there 

 are particularly arranged specimens of interest as our own 

 finds or raisings, and practically every one has its history 



