My EXPERIENCES WITH A FERN GARDEN 71 
mental conditions on the floor of the rain-forest and 
in the tree tops one has only to contrast the large thin 
leaves of the terrestrial herbaceous plants with the 
small leathery leaves of the trees themselves. The 
shade, moisture and stillness of the forest floor form 
an environment well suited to such plants as the filmy 
ferns. It is surprising to find that they have emerged 
from these conditions and are to be found where the 
atmosphere is drier, where there is more wind and where 
they may even be struck at times by the rays of the sun. 
In spite of the hairy coatings that make it easier for 
them to live in relatively arid locations, they have in 
the main become adapted to drier conditions by the 
ability of their cells to lose much of their water for short 
periods without fatal results. This is much the same 
line of physiological evolution that has been followed 
by the desert species of Cheilanthes and Notholaena. 
These plants have retained all of the morphological 
features and most of the anatomical ones to be found 
in their congeners of moister climates. By means of 
an adaptation which is physiological rather than anat- 
omical, these desert ferns are able to live under nearly 
the same conditions as the cacti, with their elaborate 
structural features for meeting conditions of drought. 
In spite of the great diversity exhibited by the ferns 
of the world, we must regard them as having been con- 
servative from an evolutionary standpoint, when we 
contrast them with flowering plants. 
Tucson, ARIZONA. 
My Experiences with a Fern Garden 
E. W. GRAVES 
In 1908, while living in Clay County, Kansas, I found 
a colony of Woodsia obtusa growing on the eastern 
and northern exposure of what is called in Kansas a 
FI 
