388 PROPEKTIES AND UtfES. 



Cibotium Barometz. 



A. native of China and Tartar y. The fronds of this Fern 

 are bipinnate, and rise to the height of 10 to 14 feet, pro- 

 duced from a decumbent and progressing caudex, which is 

 densely covered with long light brown silky hairs (charac- 

 teristic of the genus), when old looking like wool, and 

 when lying on the ground having the appearance of a 

 wool-clad animal. The story told to early travellers led 

 them to describe it as a plant of flesh and blood. The 

 travellers' tale upon the subject is, that on an elevated 

 plain of vast extent, in countries east of the Volga, grows 

 a wonderful plant, with the shape and appearance of a 

 lamb, having feet, head, arid tail distinctly formed, and its 

 skin covered with soft down. The "lamb" grows upon a 

 stalk about 3 feet high, the part by which it is sustained 

 being a kind of navel it turns about and bends to the 

 herbage which serves for its food, and when the grass fails 

 it dries up and pines away. The real facts are that the 

 caudex of this Fern is decumbent, progressing in length 

 a foot or more according to age, and is 3 or more inches 

 in diameter. Its woolly appearance has led it to be likened 

 to a lamb, the native name for it being Barometz, and by 

 travellers the "Tartarian lamb" and others ".Agnus Scy- 

 thicus." 



To make the story plausible the natives turn the woolly 

 stipes upside down, cutting away the fronds, leaving a 

 portion of the lower part of the stipes, four of which serve 

 as legs, and thus the resemblance to a woolly animal is 

 complete, and, being so manipulated, much resembles a 

 weasel. 



The Chinese traveller and botanist Lourier was the first 



