... FERTILE FRONDS UNIFORMLY SOMEWHAT LEAF-LIKE, 

 YET DIFFERING NOTICEABLY FROM STERILE FRONDS 



nearly two hundred feet into the ravine below. For 

 some distance the eye could follow its silver course, 

 then it disappeared beneath the arching trees. On 

 our right, many miles beyond, through the blue haze 

 which hung over the distant valley, we could see the 

 lake to which the stream was hurrying. 



We could not surrender ourselves with comfort 

 to the beauty of the outlook, as our surroundings 

 were not such as to put us altogether at ease. Over- 

 head hung great rocks, so cracked and seamed and 

 shattered as to threaten a complete downfall, while 

 beneath our feet the path which led along the face 

 of the cliff crumbled away, so that it was difficult 

 in places to obtain any foothold. Having passed 

 the more perilous spots, however, we became accus- 

 tomed to the situation and turned our attention to 

 the unpromising wall of rock which rose beside us. 

 From its crevices hung graceful festoons of Bulblet 

 Bladder Fern, and apparently nothing but Bulblet 

 Bladder Fern. But soon one of the party gave a 

 cry and pointed in triumph to a bluish-green cluster 

 of foliage which sprang from a shallow pocket over- 

 head. Even though one had not seen the plant 

 before, there was no mistaking the wiry purplish 

 stalks, the leathery, pinnately parted, blue-green 

 fronds, and, above all, the marginal rows of bright 

 brown sporangia peculiar to the Purple Cliff Brake. 

 Soon after we found several other plants, all of them 

 decidedly scraggly in appearance, with but few 

 green fronds and many leafless stalks. Occasion, 

 ally a small sterile frond, with broader, more oblong 



93 



