84 TYPES OF BRITISH PLANTS 
We spoke of the cap or helmet for the groups, but in this 
case the term is hardly accurate, for the protection takes 
the form of a cup growing around the base of the exposed 
part of the vein. As you would imagine from its delicate 
structure, this group need only be sought in damp positions. 
The favourite home of a first cousin of Wilson’s Filmy 
Fern is among the rocks about the falls of Killarney. 
The next group includes the fern, the life of which 
we traced in detail, namely, the bracken. Here the 
spore-cases are posted on the back of the leaf, running 
close to the margin, and the 
only shelter provided is given 
by the edge of the leaf folding 
back upon them. Besides the 
Z Bracken, this group includes 
AS Swe SEEN 2 Ba sli? the pretty Maiden-Hair, with 
£EER pea its black main vein of the 
z frond, and its many wedge- 
shaped frondlets of the purest 
ereen. This may be found 
wild-in some places on the 
south coast, if search be made 
in shady caves or rocky water- 
j falls not far from the sea. 
The Hard Fern, which also 
belongs to this section, is easily 
identified, for it shows a double row of these groups of 
spore-cases, not quite on the margin, but parallel with 
the mid-rib of each frondlet, about half-way to the margin. 
The fronds are deeply indented, but the divisions do not 
quite reach the main-rib of the whole frond. The leaf 
folds back for protection of the spores in the same way 
as the bracken. 
BRACKEN. 
