36 



THE FERN* BULLETIN* 



facilitate their rediscovery it appears desirable to place 

 on record the exact places at which the types were 

 found. Both were discovered at the base of San 

 Jacinto Mountain but on opposite sides of it, in what 

 was formerly San Diego, but is now Riverside county. 

 Cheilanthes Parishii came from the eastern or desert 

 base of that mountain. Here, under its shelter an arm 

 of the desert pushes in and is watered by three streams 

 which drain its acclivities. A hot sulphur spring rises 

 in the plain which gave the place its Spanish name of 

 Agua Caliente. Twenty years ago it was occupied 

 only by Indians who soaked away their physical ills 

 in the hot pool and supplied their primitive wants 

 from the fruits of their gardens aided by the fruits of 

 the palm, the mesquite and other native vegetation. 

 Perhaps it is best barely to refer to the snakes, cater- 

 pillars and other animal food which gave relish to this 

 vegetarian diet. But this is all changed, now, even 

 the name. A little hamlet called Palmdale — or some- 

 times Palm Springs — clusters around the sulphur 

 spring, the few Indians who remain are crowded to 

 the outskirts and the valley is occupied by vineyards 

 and apricot orchards which ripen their fruit long be- 

 fore any other in Southern California. The inhabi- 

 tants are almost exclusively sufferers from lung 

 troubles who find life in this warm and dry atmos- 

 phere. The altitude is but 500 feet above sea level 

 and the climate is charming in winter but in summer 

 the place in an oven. The natural vegetation is abund- 

 ant a botanist could not spend a fortnight of his winter 

 vacation in California amidst a more novel and inter- 

 esting flora. 



Some three miles up the valley from the springs a 

 cluster of a few houses and orchards bear the enticing 



