THE SCOLOPEADRIUMS. 



225 



without the aid of the plumber. Total cost of 

 the heating arrangement was $65.50, and the house, 

 including painting, was completed for S235. 



The pipes are supplied with "unions," and can 

 be taken apart and away at short notice ; the 

 benches are on horses, and with the removable 

 sashes can be quickly removed and stored, when 

 the conservatory becomes agam m appearance, an 

 ordinary piazza with a glass roof. Thus in sum- 



mer, by putting an awning over the glass roof, the 

 residence itself is not heated, nor are the breezes 

 denied free entrance on account of the serviceable, 

 practicable conservatory, which on the approach of 

 cold weather, can be made quickly and easily to 

 materalize, and to become a source of occupation, 

 beauty, pleasure and profit during the long winter 

 months. 



A'c'-a' Jersey. H. 



\ 



The Walking Fern — Scolopendrium rhizophyllu 



THE SCOLOPENDRIUMS. 



f 



Of all the delightful plants found in my youthful 

 rambles among the hills, there was none that roused 

 such a sense of the mysterious and whetted the 

 edge of search to the extent that did the Walking 

 fern. To think that it actually migrated from year 

 to year, was almost too much for youthful credulity. 

 The whole genus is interesting. The common Eng- 

 lish species, 5. or Hart's Tongue fern seems to 

 have the power of endless variation in form, size 

 and texture, and no other fern is so abnormally 

 crested in appearance. In fact, in some of its na- 

 tive habitats no two leaves appear alike. The ends 

 of the leaves in some varieties are doubly crested, 

 giving it the appearance of a green cockscomb : 

 others again are serrated all along the edges of the 

 leaves. In some localities we find it in its normal 

 type, that is, with a plain lance-shaped leaf, usu- 

 ally about a foot long, and (where the conditions 

 are favorable) in great abundance. Its favorite 

 habitat is on the north side of a limestone clift, 

 where the sun never shines, with sufficient moisture 

 percolating through the crevices of the rocks to 

 keep it constantly moist. There is just such a place 

 as this at Miller's Dale, in Derbyshire, England. 

 In that dale I have seen the face of an inaccessible 

 cliff completely clothed with this fern, many of the 

 leaves measuring over three feet in length, as thick" 

 as a piece of leather, and of an intense dark green. 



(In the shade of this fern there was also growing an 

 abundance of the small trichomina;.) Although 

 this fern prefers the shade, it grows in many places 

 under entirely opposite conditions : an old dry wall 

 is one of its fa\orite haunts, or on the north side of 

 a bridge, and occasionally along the hedge banks, 

 but when found under these unfavorable conditions 

 the leaves are much smaller, and the plant takes on 

 that peculiar one-sided look sought after by wide- 

 awake botanists. 



There are many forms of scolopendrium suffi- 

 ciently interesting to be grown in a greenhouse col- 

 lection ; among these may be mentioned S. crispa, 

 S. laiiccolata^ S. serrata, S. densitm (one of the best), 

 and .S'. cristatuin. Some of the foregoing forms 

 have a great resemblance to the Bird's Nest fern 

 (Asplc)iiuiii aphis nidus), which has the appearance, 

 of an enormous bird's nest. The abundance of dark 

 scales at the base of each leaf gives the plant a 

 nest-like look. 



Another curious and interesting species is the 

 Walking fern, 6'. r]iizopJiyUinn, so called from its 

 peculiar migratory habit, the detail of which is in- 

 dicated in the illustration. This was formerly abun- 

 dant in the neighborhood of Passaic Falls, New 

 Jersey. The end of each leaf of this species car- 

 ries with it an embryo plant ; when the mature leaf 

 decays, or by accident falls over, the 3'oung plant 



