148 FERA^S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



within twenty miles ; and the writer has a fine 

 specimen of Asplenhcm pinnatifidiun which grew 

 in a pan of TricJiomanes Pete7'sii, the plants in 

 which came by mail from Alabama, and had been 

 growing a year before the AspleniiLin made its 

 appearance. Of course packing-material, or, in- 

 deed, the leaves of plants received by any means 

 of transportation, doubtless contain invisibly the 

 spores of many ferns new to the region to wliich 

 the plants are sent. 



