74 



lucre. In the more luxuriant form of the plant, the involucral 

 cup is very distinctly winged, in consequence of the double layer 

 of tissue, composing the segment to which it belongs, not sepa- 

 rating through its whole breadth ; in smaller specimens the wings 

 or margins of the modified segment are not readily distinguishable, 

 but the cup-like cylinder is always slightly compressed to the 

 plane of the frond, indicative of its origin as above stated. It is 

 true that, like most other modifications of tissue attending the 

 development of fructification, the cup changes from the bright 

 green colour of the frond to a white or brownish hue, and loses 

 its translucency, but the continuity of texture and similarity in 

 other respects are readily traceable by close examination. 



The growth of this rare and elegant fern is not attended with 

 any difficulty, provided that the peculiarities of its natural habitats 

 are studied by the cultivator; these are chiefly, an atmosphere 

 loaded with moisture, absence of stagnant water about the roots, 

 and exclusion of the direct rays of the sun : the first of these con- 

 ditions is rarely attainable under cultivation unless with the shelter 

 of glass. Many very successful growers have described the varying 

 minutiae o'f the several modes of treatment by which they have 

 attained magnitude of development far exceeding that of the plant 

 in its natural state in Ireland ; but the specimens which I have 

 hitherto seen growing in the more fanciful modifications of the 

 closed case, and under the elaborate course of planting and after- 

 treatment recommended in such circumstances, have always ap- 

 peared to me too delicate to be consistent with health, and that 

 they really are so, the fact, generally lamented by the amateur 

 grower, that they never perfect fructification seems to confirm. 

 The plant grows freely in a common pot or seed-pan ; the latter is 

 better, even commencing with a small specimen, as it affords more 

 room for the spreading of the rhizoma ; it should stand in water, 

 and be covered with a bell-glass of sufficient size to admit of the 

 uninterrupted extension of the fronds; the bottom should be 

 strewn with fragments of porous stone and little lumps of char- 

 coal intermixed, and the soil may consist of about equal parts of 

 sand, peat, and decayed leaf-mould. In this way, sheltered from 

 the sun, but freely exposed to the daylight, and with the occasional 

 admission of fresh air by removing the glass for a few minutes at 

 a time, the thecas are not unfrequently fully formed and the fili- 

 form receptacle exserted as much as in wild specimens. Success 

 in the treatment of small plants will readily lead to contrivances 

 in regard to the management of larger ; but those who may be 

 desirous of emulating the more magnificent though barren state 

 alluded to above, will find much valuable information on the 

 subject, by reference to Mr. Ward's book * On the Growth of 

 Ferns in Closed Cases/ or Mr. Moore's ' Handbook,' p. 202 



