THE UNCOILING FRONDS. 13 
the first crop is destroyed, and commonly appear in cir- 
cular clumps. This habit is nearly confined to species 
with short, stout, slowly creeping rootstocks. In the 
other, the fronds are produced throughout most of the 
summer. In the latter class, long, slender, extensively 
creeping and frequently branching rootstocks are the 
rule. 
Nature’s pattern for fern buds is the spiral. Indeed, 
so inflexible is she upon this point, and so rarely does 
she adopt a similar pattern for other plants, that this 
forms one of the chief characters by which the whole 
fern tribe may be identified. No matter how varied in 
outline or different in size the mature fronds may be, in 
the bud all true ferns are coiled like a watch-spring. 
And not only are the fronds as a whole coiled thus, but 
each of the remotest divisions is rolled toward the next 
largest, these in turn toward the rachis, and then, begin- 
ning at the apex, rachis and stipe are rolled down to the 
crown. During winter, the buds are protected from the 
cold and wet by a multitude of papery or hair-like scales, 
usually tawny brown in colour. When the fronds de- 
velop, these often remain upon stipe and rachis, adding 
not a little to the picturesque appearance of the crosiers. 
The down and hairs so common on the stems and leaves 
of flowering plants are comparatively rare in the ferns, 
scales taking their places. 
There are nearly four thousand species of ferns in the 
world, but an examination of the rocks has shown that 
the present number is but a handful in comparison with 
those that flourished when the earth was younger. In 
the warmth and moisture of the long ago, they grew to 
a great size and with the allied club-mosses and scouring- 
rushes played an important part in the formation of the 
