94 



thousands of normal Ferns must pass beneath the scrutiny 

 of the hunter or huntress (for ladies have been particularly 

 fortunate) before a distinct sport presents itself, and 

 obviously the first step necessary for a beginner is to 

 acquire a thorough acquaintance with the normal forms, 

 so that any departure is instantly noted and followed up 

 by closer inspection. It very frequently happens that in 

 a dense clump of rank-growing normals the merest tip of 

 a frond or fronds indicates the presence therein of a 

 variety, and it may even occur that one species may 

 assume a varietal form closely resembling a different 

 species of another shape and thus baffle the eye. Thus we 

 have found two forms of Athyrium (Lady Fern), one 

 which we named A. f.f. oreopteroides, so closely did it 

 imitate the mountain Lastrea (L. oreopteris or Montana) 

 which grew in conjunction, and the other we took at a first 

 glance for Lastrea dilatata, the fronds being quite triangular 

 (A. f.f. deltoideum), especially as L. dilatata was abundant 

 in the same spot. The texture alone determined the 

 second look, which discriminated them as marked varieties. 

 Both these would infallibly have been overlooked had 

 not experience educated the eye to relatively minute 

 differences. 



Another point with reference to the greater number of 

 British finds is that in many countries it is not so easy to 

 hunt as here • the poking and prying and intrusion into 

 the out-of-the-way nooks and corners which are liable to 

 harbour good things, are all, it may be, attended with 

 danger by harbouring bad ones, and we ourselves have 

 still a vivid recollection of a fine rattlesnake in Mexico 

 which turned up just beneath a lovely patch of Notho- 

 chlaenas and Cheilanthes. Even here (in Ireland) we once 

 let ourselves drop down the face of a rock to inspect a mass 

 of Hymenophyllum, only to find a wasp's nest as big as 

 one's head within six inches of our nose. Fortunately, by 



