A PARADISE OF FERNS. 29 



the Hartstongue and Male Fern, are to be found 

 specimens of two other of the large-growing species 

 of the British ferns the Broad Buckler Fern 

 (Lastrea dilatata], and the Soft Prickly Shield 

 Fern (Polystichum angiilare). Both, when finely 

 grown, are most splendid objects. The former is 

 one of the most handsome of our native ferns, its 

 broad arching fronds sweeping upwards and out- 

 wards with exquisite grace, and sometimes attain- 

 ing like the Male Fern, to which it is closely allied, 

 a height of four or five feet. The chief character- 

 istic of the Soft Prickly Shield Fern is the minute 

 and beautiful manner in which its fronds are divided 

 into small angular-shaped saw-edged leaflets. It 

 is often densely clothed with rich brown scales, 

 which contrast finely with the dark deep green of 

 its fronds. 



Turning now away from the dark shelter of 

 overhanging trees, the pathway, wending upwards 

 still, passes between high hedges, whose dark and 

 tangled vegetation almost meets overhead. Here, 

 shooting up majestically from the deep rich soil 

 of the hedge-bank, are some Brakes (Pteris 



