36 



A FEEN BOOK TOR EYEBYBOBY. 



whicli somewhat resembles the "tway blade'' at a casual 

 glance, but from its being the type of an order poorly re- 

 presented in this country, so far as the numbers of species 

 are concerned. It is so little like all our other ferns, ex- 

 cept its little companion and the Moonwort and Eoyal 

 Fern, that it would pazzle a young botanist, who had 

 only seen such ferns as the Male Tern and the Spleen- 

 worts, to say whether it were a fern or not. 



The cultivation of this plant, either in pots or the out- 

 door fernery, is by no means difficult. It requires a 

 loamy or sandy peat soil, and should be removed before 

 fructification, with plenty of soil attached, so as not to 

 disturb the roots ; and that "it loveth moisture" should 

 not be forgotten. 



LITTLE ADDEE'S TONaiJE.^ 



This little fern is by some botanists considered only as 

 a small, stunted variety of the common Adder's Tongue, 

 modified by the circumstances under 

 which it vegetates. Others consider 

 it to be entitled to the rank of a spe- 

 cies, from the different form of the 

 barren frond, the occasional occur- 

 rence of a barren radical frond, the 

 different form of the fertile spike, 

 and some other minor peculiarities. 

 It does not often exceed 3 inches in 

 height, with an erect stem or stipe, 

 bearing at its apex about six spore- 

 cases imbedded in the margin at each 

 side, and forming a kind of spindle- 

 shaped head, which is narrowed 

 downwards and upwards so as to ter- 

 minate in a blunt point. Erom one side of this stipe a 

 barren frond is produced, which is rather fleshy and of a 

 narrow lanceolate shape. An additional barren frond 



* OpMoglossum lusiianicum, L. 



