FERN HABITATS. 3f 



old stony structures are almost the favourite habitats of 

 the Common and some of the rarer Spleenworts. The 

 Rue-leaved, the Common Maidenhair, the Black Maiden- 

 hair, and the Scaly Spleenworts, are certain to be found 

 in such places, some in one and some in another, and, 

 not impossibly though rarely, the Rock, the Alternated, 

 the Forked, and, if near the sea, the Lanceolate and the 

 Sea Spleenworts. 



Talking of Asplenium lanceolatiim, let us illustrate one 

 of its favourite habitats by just this little view of rock. 



Our readers will notice the almost perpendicular crevices 

 in this rock. If within the influence of the sea, this is 

 just the kind of rocky fissure in which to peer carefully 

 for the Lanceolate Spleenwort, especially if from above 

 a tiny rill flows along the rocky surface, and down 

 between the crevices. In these leaf-mould will gather, 

 and the air will always be moist, and hence the love for 

 it of our moisture-loving fern. If such rocks looked 

 right upon the sea, and were near the beach, then in the 

 same crevices one might expect to find Asplenium 



