238 CHEILANTHES AND MAIDENHAIR. 
Chetlanthes vestita is a conspicuous example of a rock- 
loving fern that is not partial to limestone. It shows 
Chetlanthes vestita, 
a strong preference for igneousrock. At 
the New Haven station it is described as 
growing in the crevices of a basaltic cliff 
and in northern New Jersey it is most 
frequently found on gneiss ledges. 
Superficially it has a decided resem- 
blance to Woodsia Ilvensts and is not in- 
frequently collected forit. Its fronds are 
about the same size and shape, are hairy, 
and the plant has the same fondness for 
growing in dense little clumps on ex- 
posed rocky crests. The species are not 
difficult to distinguish between, when one 
has both in hand; the difficulty comes 
when one collects a single species and 
would be sure which it is. When other 
signs fail, Chezlanthes may be known for 
a certainty by its lack of a joint in the 
stipe. The fronds are also somewhat 
slenderer, and the pinnules narrower and 
further apart. 
The plant has a short, creeping root- 
stock covered with hairlike brownish 
scales, and shows its southern nature by 
producing fronds until late autumn as if 
there were no such things as frost and 
snow. Even in the north, it appears to 
be evergreen. The fronds are usually 
from six to eight inches long, on short 
stipes and narrowly lanceolate in outline, 
They are twice pinnate, the primary pinnz about ovate, 
