RARE LOCAL FKKNS. 43 



Norristown Insane Asylum. There is something ominous in all 

 this, one is inclined to say, and the wierd quest is, for that 

 season, abandoned. 



Next year the same thing- happens. Near Philadelphia 

 there are no limestone clilTs, and on the limestone cliffs near 

 Norristown there is no A . vhoioidfs. Indeed, there does not 

 seem to be a single frond of it on any sort of cliff. Once upon 

 a time there was much talk of an alleged Mrs. Harris, and 

 could it be that * * ? But no, the fern must exist. Prof. 

 Merrill finds it in Virginia, Mr. H. P. Wells collects it near 

 Delaware Water Gap, Mr. Eggleston records it as collected 

 by Mr. Ross at Rutland, Vermont, and Dr. T. C. Porter takes 

 two specimens near Easton. It turns up in Connecticut and 

 elsewhere. Nowhere, indeed, is there very much of it — a 

 single plant, or two, perhaps three or four in a place — except 

 in Havana Glen, Alabama, where it grows in profusion, 

 according to Dr. Underwood. 



To be anxious, and diligent, and determined, is very well ; 

 but sometimes it is less wearing, and equally fruitful, to take 

 things quietly as they come, to saunter along, to be anxious 

 about nothing. There were five of us in the party. We were 

 not looking for Asplaiiiim ehoioidcs, nor for anything in par- 

 ticular, except refreshment of mind and body, in our wander- 

 ings in Chester A'alley that beautiful afternoon. We had, 

 however, become interested in the unusual development of 

 the walking leaf {Cauiptosorus) along a certain mossy and 

 shaded ledge of limestone. One or two of the party had not, 

 in fact, made this fern's acquaintance until then, and none of 

 us, possibly, had seen it anywhere in greater abundance. 

 There were other fern species of interest, such as Pellcra atro- 

 purpjura and Asplcniiim pi aty neuron. We w^ere following 

 along this ledge, with no thought of Mrs. Harris, or the lime- 

 stone cliffs " near Philadelphia," or anything vexing or puz- 

 zling, when to our goggle-eyed gaze unfolded themselves three 

 plants of the celebrated fern. They grew within a few feet of 

 each other and were closely accompanied by Cainptosonis and 



