TROIIP V FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE AND SIMILAR ; 

 SPORANGIA IN LINEAR OR OBLONG FRUIT - DOTS 



Finally, one September afternoon, shortly before 

 leaving the neighborhood, we resolved upon a last 

 search, in quite a new direction. Several miles from 

 home, at a fork in the road, standing in a partially 

 wooded pasture, we noticed just such a large, shaded 

 rock, with mossy ledges, as had filled us with vain 

 hopes many times. J. suggested a closer exam- 

 ination, which I discouraged, remembering previous 

 disappointments. But something in the look of the 

 great bowlder provoked his curiosity, so over the 

 fence and up the ledges he scrambled. Almost his 

 first resting-place was a projecting shelf which was 

 carpeted with a mat of bluish-green foliage. It 

 needed only a moment's investigation to identify the 

 leathery, tapering fronds of the Walking Fern. No 

 one who has not spent hours in some such search as 

 this can sympathize with the delight of those mo- 

 ments. We fairly gloated over the quaint little 

 plants, following with our fingers the slender tips 

 of the fronds till they rooted in the moss, starting 

 another generation on its life journey, and earn- 

 ing for itself the title of Walking Leaf or Walking 

 Fern. 



Although since then I have found the Walking 

 Leaf frequently, and in great abundance, I do not re- 

 member ever to have seen it make so fine a display. 

 The plants were unusually large and vigorous, and 

 the aspect of the matted tufts was uncommonly 

 luxuriant. To be sure, some allowance must be made 

 for the glamour of a first meeting. 



The Walking Leaf grows usually on limestone 



148 



