86 FERNS 



this enforced rest it was restored to daylight, 

 and in a few weeks became the most perfect 

 specimen fern it was ever my lot to own. 



An unusually fine plant of the dainty 

 maidenhair spleenwort (Asplenium Tricho- 

 manes) is shown in Plate 29. This plant has 

 been growing for years like an ordinary 

 potted plant The natural habitat is much 

 the same as that of the ebony spleenwort, 

 but I have seen fine plants luxuriating in 

 deep leaf mould, which accounts for the 

 success of the specimen in question. 



THE PREFERENCES OF THE WALKING FERN 



The walking leaf (Camptosorus rhizophyl- 

 lus) prefers a rocky foothold, but grows re- 

 markably well indoors with an apology of 

 mineral matter beneath its roots. It is more 

 decorative than any green-ribbon concoction 

 of milliner's art could be. It is an excep- 

 tionally interesting fern because of its unique 

 habit of growth. 



Spores are not only wafted hither and 



