CH^. 111.] 



MAEE FERNS. 



31 



ligibly. We found it to be a steep slope of even roek, ex* 

 tending along the monntain side farther tlian we could ser* 

 Parts of it 

 were quite 

 bare, tut 

 where it was 

 cracked and 

 fissured there 

 grew a most 

 luxuriant ve- 

 getation, a- 

 moiig which 

 the pittiher 

 plants were 

 the most remarkable, 

 wonderful plants never seem 

 to succeed well in our hot- 

 houses, and are there seen to 

 little advantage. Here they 

 grew np into half elinihing 

 shrubs, their curious pitchei-s 

 of various sizes and forms 

 hanging abundantly from their 

 leaves, and continually excit- 

 ing our admiration by their 

 size and beauty. A few 

 coniferse of tlie genus Dacry- 

 dium here first appeared, and 

 in the tMckets just above 

 the rocky surface we walked 

 through groves of those splen- 

 did ferns Dipteris Horsfieldit 

 and Matonia pectinate, which 

 bear large spreading palmate 

 fronds on slender stems six or 

 eight feet high. Tlie Matonia 

 is the tallest and most elegant, 

 and is known only from this 

 niountaiu, and neither of them 

 is yet introduced into our hot-houses. 

 It was very striking to come out from the dark, cool, and 



RAJtK nam uouvt ofhjh. 



