266 THE WALKING FERN AND HART’S-TONGUE. 
see the plant moving about, when he went to collect it 
for the first time. 
The odd little fronds, spreading about in circular tufts 
from a small black rootstock, and seldom rising far above 
the surface of the mossy rock, present a picture that 
will linger long in the memory. At base the fronds 
are heartshaped or eared, and above taper to a long 
slender tip. Sometimes they may reach a length of four- 
teen inches, though they perhaps never appear as long to 
the eye as they really are, owing to its failure to make 
proper allowance for the prolonged apex. The sporan- 
gia are borne in oblong or linear sori, mostly on the broad 
basal portion of the frond. Some of these are parallel 
to the midrib and others oblique to it. Those near the 
midrib are usually single but the outer ones are likely to 
be double or to connect with others at the ends, forming 
curious patterns, apparently without .order, but which 
upon examination are found to follow the veins. The 
early frondsare short, blunt-ended and usually do not bear 
sori, being devoted to purely vegetative functions. 
The most interesting characteristic of this species is 
found in the way in which its fronds arch over until they 
touch the earth where they root and form new plants. 
Some of our other ferns occasionally produce plants in 
this way, but in this species itisasettled habit. Thenew 
plants grow up, repeating the process of walking and soon 
the original plant is surrounded by quite a colony of its 
offspring produced without the intervention of spores. 
The connections between them are slow to die, and it is 
not unusual to find three or four generations linked to- 
gether. Occasionally, also, the basal lobes are elongated 
like the tips and may produce plants in the same way. 
The walking fern ranges from the far north to Georgia 
oy 
