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of these tree-like members of a tropical vegetation. The plant 
towering above all the others is the tall tree-fern, pen 
arborea, a native of the West Indies. This is typical o 
great mass of tropical tree-ferns. To the right, in the 
of the center bed, is a fine specimen of the lamb-fern, Cibotium 
Barometg, known also as the Scythian lamb. This is found all 
the way from southern China to the East Indies. In olden times 
it gave rise to a marvelous tale told by travelers, to the effect that 
there existed in the vast region to the north of the Black Sea, 
known at that time as Scythia, a creature half animal and half 
a stalk in such a way that it could turn in all directions; after 
exhausting all of the vegetation within reach it pined away and 
died. It was the stout hairy rootstock, which may be seen on 
the specimen here, which gave rise to this fantastic tale, but it 
takes a strong imagination to see the resemblance. Another 
member of this genus, to be found further along in the house, 
is Cibotium Schiedei, a native of Mexico. Other tree- ferns here 
are Cyathea Tussacti, found in Jamaica; Cyathea insignis, from 
Jamaica and eastern Cuba; and Alsophila aa widely dis- 
tributed in the West Indies, and known as the rough tree-fern, 
from its very rough leaf-stalks. Many of the tree-ferns in this 
house, as well as in the next, were secured by expeditions sent 
out by the Garden. Some of these cannot be purchased, and the 
only way to secure them and many other desirable plants other 
than ferns is by means of these expeditions. 
On the western wal! are two handsome members of the climb- 
ing ferns, belonging to the genus Lygodium, to which our native 
plant, Lygodium palmatum, known often as the Hartford fern, 
belongs. These are Lygodium japonicum, the Japanese climbing 
fern, distributed from Japan to China and southern Asia and in 
tropical Australia, and Lygodium circinatum, from tropical Asia 
and Queensland. These are both excellent plants for covering 
a wall of this kind. 
the beds on either side will be found other ferns. Among 
these are the forked sword-fern, Nephrolepis biserrata furcans, 
