THE FANTASIES OF FERNS 2OI 



times it has been mown down, or its territory even 

 burned over. 



Two Ferns of widely different characters are the 

 companions of its moist haunts: the Crested Shield 

 Fern, almost an evergreen, and the Sensitive Fern, 

 which shrivels at the mere suggestion of frost. 



The Shield Fern is an eccentric in its ways of 

 growth. When seen clustering about a bog tussock 

 the erect fronds are often two feet in height and 

 six inches broad at base. The leaflets being rather 

 triangular, once divided and notched, are somewhat 

 glossy and crisp, and the fruit of the fertile fronds 

 is round and set between the margin and midrib. 

 This, however, is but one of its many types ; I 

 have also found these Ferns growing in 

 the chinks of an old well where, ow- 

 ing apparently to lack of light, the 

 fronds, though a foot and a 

 half in length, were only 

 two inches broad, and 

 drooped with all the 

 limpness of a vine, 

 while between these 

 two extremes there 

 are many intermediate forms. 



Locally, the Sensitive 



