uriantly, fig. 9. There was more filmy fern in this place than in any or all of the 
five others, This locality, which lies only 1.2 miles southeast of the Steagall site 
in Jackson Hollow, was the sixth for Pope County, 
It was not until March, 1959, that I was able to explore the cliffs of Pope 
County again for the filmy fern, On March 12 I followed the cliffs on the west side 
of Bay Creek south from Belle Smith Springs, fig. 2, locality 8. My goal was to 
follow these cliffs south and west to the point I had reached the previous November, 
sa? . 
ra 
"3 paps 
e 
Fig. 10. --One of the three patches of filmy fern growing on the sandstone cliff along Bay Creek, south 
of Belle Smith Springs. 
I was pleased to find in one of the overhangs four small patches of filmy fern, vary- 
ing from 1 to 4feet longand 2 to 4 inches wide, fig, 10. This station was the seventh 
for the fern in Pope County. 
On the following day, March 13, 1959, I made my greatest discovery of filmy 
fern, I had returned to Jackson Hollow to follow the south-facing cliffs in the north 
section of the hollow, a stretch of cliffs that had previously escaped my attention, 
although I had often collected plants in Jackson Hollow, After carefully examining 
several sizable overhangs, I came to a huge, crescent-shaped overhang about 200 
feet along the lip, more than 50 feet high at the front, and about 70 feet deep, fig. 2, 
locality 4. The floor was strewn with sandstone fragments varying in size from gi- 
gantic blocks to very small pieces, It was difficult to reach the small vertical face 
at the base of the overhang because of the fragments and dense vegetation. But what 
a reward! Here were three sizable patches of filmy fern, the first about afoot long, 
the second about 12 feet long, and the third about 40 feet! Here as elsewhere the 
fern grew on solid sandstone, but, as it had not done at the other sites, it also grew 
on some of the sandy material on the floor---material that doubtless had eroded 
from the cliff, fig. 11. The only record that I have found of the growth of filmy 
fern elsewhere than on sandstone cliffs, ledges, rocky walls, rock houses, and 
overhangs is that of Gillespie (1955), whoreported a collection from Webster County, 
West Virginia, ''at the edge of an old railroad grade, which parallels a sandstone 
cliff, ...'' My interpretation of the description is that the fernwas growing on sand 
10 
