~ 1900 SUPPLEMENT—RECENT INTRODUCTIONS, &C. 435 
HYMENOPHYLLUM. Syn. Spherocionium. In- 
cluding Leptocionium and Pachyloma. With the excep- 
tion of the beautiful H. fuciforme and H. pulcherrimum 
(Fig. 453), nearly all the species at present known are 
of creeping habit. Being provided with shallow-rooting 
rhizomes, they succeed best when growing on the surface 
of a rock, and are allowed to ran under the moss which 
covers it. It is worthy of note that the great majority of 
these plants are natives of New Zealand, Tasmania, and 
Chili, where they exist in a climate naturally cool and 
humid, and of the East and West Indies, where they oceur 
under trees at high elevations; in such situations they 
Fie. 454. FRoND OF HYMENOPHYLLUM RUGINOSUM. 
are permanently subjected to the influences of shade and 
moisture, and also to a comparatively cool temperature. 
The fronds show considerable variation, as may be seen 
from Figs. 454, 455, 456, and 457. 
Hymenophyllums are particularly well adapted for 
growing in Fern-cases in towns; they are all the more 
yalnable by reason of their fronds, though apparently of 
a delicate nature, not being, like that of most other 
Ferns, affected by fogs, which prove so destructive to 
vegetable life in general. They require constant mois- 
ture, but this shonld be produced more by means of 
Fic. 455. FROND AND PORTION OF RHIZOME OF 
HYMENOPHYLLUM DEMISSUM. 
Hymenophyllum—continued. 
condensation than by mechanical waterings, to which 
these plants are decidedly averse, especially the species 
with hairy or woolly fronds, which greatly suffer from 
baie syringed overhead. It is especially to be depre- 
cated in the case of H. hirtellum, H. scabrum, H. valvatum, 
H. tunbridgense, and H. sericewm. For the last-named 
Fic. 456. FROND AND RHIZOME OF HYMENOPHYLLUM 
JAVANICUM. 
the material most suited to its growth is a piece of sand- 
stone, or any other porous stone, over which its tiny 
rhizomes can run freely without, however, clinging to it. 
On this subject, Mr. Marchant, a very careful observer, 
says: “I have been trying a method which is proving 
most satisfactory. I have had a large pit excavated 
under a spreading tree. I then made a bed of cement 
to just cover the bottom, and hold say lin. of water 
over the whole strface; all the Ferns are placed on 
Fic, 457. FROND OF HYMENOPHYLLUM PECTINATUM. 
bricks or on inverted pots, and the whole is covered 
with three-frame lights. I get a splendid condensation 
and much time is saved, as no overhead syringing is 
required,” . 
Hymenophyllums require but little light, and only a small 
depth of soil, as their slender rhizomes, mostly of a wiry 
nature, haye the greatest objection to being buried under 
the loose material in which they delight to grow. When 
the plants are cultivated in pots or in pans the compost 
