114 



THE FERN BULLETIN 



but here was a bog as steep as the roof of an ordinary 

 house into which one sank nearly to the knees as in 

 the usual sphagnum bog. There was nothing to keep 

 the water from running out of such a bog; in fact, it 

 did run out, but it was as constantly renewed from the 

 upper side by the frequent rains. In this forest it rains, 

 not only every day but several times a day, and occas- 

 ionally for several days at a time. This is due to the 

 fact that every moisture-laden wind from the sea is 

 cooled as it approaches these elevated regions and is 

 forced to part with some of its moisture. 



The effect of this constant humidity upon the vegeta- 

 tion can hardly be imagined unless one has been in a 

 similar region. The earth, fallen logs, dead brush, the 

 tree trunks, and even the leaves of some trees have their 

 appropriate colonies of plants. A sudden storm drove 

 us to shelter under an inclined tree trunk and here we 

 ate lunch, watching the rain-drops chase one another 

 down the fronds of no less that a dozen different spe- 

 cies of filmy-ferns that formed part of our shelter. 



The Lonchitis itself was no common sight, rising up 

 out of the sphagnum to a height of seven feet or more 

 and clothed in a sparse coat of brownish yellow hairs. 

 It was, however, of no particular beauty, being quite 

 like several of the large tropical brackens to which in- 

 deed, it is very closely allied. Our guide mistook the 

 specific name and spoke of the fern as Lonchitis aurea, 

 calling it the golden lonchitis, a name which the vesti- 

 ture of the frond well bore out, but the correct name is, 

 of course, aurita. For what reason this was given is 

 unexplained though it may refer to the ear-like lobes of 

 the pinnae. 



The genus Lonchitis differs from the genus Ptcris, 

 to which the brackens belong, only in having its fruit- 



