250 AN OWL'S wv HOLIDAY. 
length (including the stipe), and I picked one 
which measured about two feet and a half, and 
bore twenty-five bulblets underneath. Half a 
mile from the start, or thereabouts, the path 
skirts what I should call the fernery; a cir- 
cular space, perhaps one hundred and fifty feet 
in diameter, set in the midst of the primeval 
forest, but itself containing no tree or shrub 
of any sort, — nothing but one dense mass of 
ferns. In the centre was a patch of the sensi- 
tive fern ( Onoclea sensibilis), while around this, 
and filling nearly the entire circle, was a mag- 
nificent thicket of the ostrich fern (Onoclea 
struthiopteris), with sensibilis growing hidden 
and scattered underneath. About the edge 
were various other species, notably Aspzdium 
Goldianum, which I here found for the first 
time, and Aspidium aculeatum, var. Braunii. 
All in all, it was a curious and pretty sight, — 
this tiny tarn filled with ferns instead of water, 
—one worth going a good distance to see, and 
sure to attract the notice of the least observant 
traveler.! 
Ferns are mostly of a gregarious habit. Here 
at Owl’s Head, for instance, might be seen in 
1 To bear out what has been said in the text concerning the 
abundance of ferns at Owl’s Head, I subjoin a list of the species 
observed ; premising that the first interest of my trip was not 
botanical, and that I explored but a very small section of the 
woods : — 
