BALL THE INDIGENOUS FERNS OF NOVA SCOTIA. 151 



Aspidium thelypteris. (Swartz.) Perhaps the least elegant 

 of all the Indigenous Ferns. Quite common in swamps. 



Aspidium Nov-Eboracense. (Swartz.) One of the most deli- 

 cately tinted of all our ferns, retaining throughout maturity a very 

 light green colour which makes it valuable in an artificial fernery 

 from the contrast which it makes with other dark greens. Common 

 in swamps and moist places. 



Aspidium fragrans. (Swartz.) Perhaps the most rare of 

 Nova Scotia Ferns, as only one habitat, Hartley water-fall, Pirate 

 Harbour, Strait of Canso (Rev. E. H. Ball,) is as yet known for it 

 and where it is quite scarce. Its existence in Canada is queried in 

 Dr. Lawson's Synopsis, 1864. I was fortunate enough to find this 

 fern in October, 1869'; a very fine root of it (the fronds 10 inches 

 long) which I procured in 1874, literally perfumed the room in 

 which it was kept with sweetest fragrance. But my prize went the 

 way of so many pets, and was killed with care and kindness ; for 

 it is very hardy and should have been kept out-of-doors. It grows 

 on the spot above mentioned, on the face of a perpendicular rock, 

 which is upwards of sixty feet high. Pteridologists who may visit 

 this most charming and interesting nook where nature draws cur- 

 tains around and over the rock which bears (in their eyes) at least 

 three precious treasures (including Aspl. trich., and Cystop. 

 Bulbifera), must please bespeak the assistance of some such cicerone 

 as an opera glass or pocket telescope, if they would wish to descry 

 this rare specie's. And with that they must be content : for it is 

 beyond reach. Still it can but afford them true satisfaction in 

 another way, in the fact that there it is reverently kept from rude 

 hands and uninitiated minds who know not the sacredness with which 

 a botanist regards the one, perhaps only habitat of a valued species. 

 The fragrance of this fern can perhaps be best compared to that of 

 mignionette, but it is milder, being without that unpleasantness 

 which arises from the latter when in close proximity. A micro- 

 scopic examination of the reniform indusium of this fern, at least 

 when young, fringed as it is all round with glands, is a rich treat. 



Aspidium spinidosum. (Swartz.) Only varieties of Gray's 

 typical Aspid. spin, are to be found in Nova Scotia. But 

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