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the ordinary conception of a fern. They bear two kinds of 
fronds : one usually stiffand erect, or appressed to the substratum, 
and sterile ; the other, larger and in most species much resem- 
bling stag horns, fertile, bearing the sporangia in masses at the 
end of the divisions or in their sinuses. These are indigenous to 
the Old World with one exception, a native of South America. 
A bench of these will be found in the northwest corner of the 
house. Six or seven species are represented : two from the west- 
ern coast of Africa, A. Angolense, with its broad wedge-shaped 
fertile fronds, and A. Stesmmarium, often known under the name 
of A. Aethiopicum, a much larger and more robust plant with 
forked fronds; three from Australia, one, A. grande, from the 
northern part, another A. Az//z, from Queensland, and a near 
relative of the third, the more common in cultivation, from the 
temperate parts of the island, A. difurcatum, or Platycerium alci- 
corne, as it is commonly called; the remaining species, A, Wil- 
linckit, is from Java. 
Hanging from the roof of this house, and greatly adding to its 
attractiveness, are a number of fern baskets, the long fronds hang- 
ing down in graceful masses. Among these are Nephrolepis 
exaltata, the sword fern, common in tropical America and in 
Florida, and their related species, including V. davachoides, from 
Java, and the odd little V. Duffiz, from the Duke of York Island, 
with its narrow erect fronds bearing short rounded closely set 
pinnae in a fashion quite unlike its neighbors. The Davallias also 
lend themselves well to basket culture, the best of these being the 
common J. dissecta, from Java, and the closely related D. Fijiensis, 
with its larger and more plumose fronds, from the Fiji Islands. 
Baskets of both are suspended from the roof. And last, but not 
least, is Phlebodium aureum, the golden polypody, a native of 
tropical America and Florida. In the latter region the writer 
stout rootstocks, covered with the golden-brown hairs, from 
which it derives its common name, sending its roots deep down 
into the masses of humus collected in the persistent sheathing 
bases of the old palm leaves. In wet humid hammocks it is fre- 
quently found adorning the trunks of this palm.. 
