UNFAMILIAR FRIENDS. 105 
exceedingly handsome in a Fernery, but I have 
only cultivated those I have named. I am hoping 
to find several of the Otago Ferns hardy enough to 
brave a Devonshire winter ; but I shall not venture 
them out till I have proved them more surely. 
I have never found in my wanderings either the 
Woodsia ilvensis or hyperborea. I have heard of 
them in Scotland, and again at the Lakes, but I 
am obliged to confess that I have met with neither 
of the plants, either in a wild or cultivated state, 
so that I have been unable to buy one from any 
collection I have seen. I believe they are too 
rare and uncertain in growth to be trusted out of 
doors even during the summer. 
Another Fern I have never found is the Asple- 
nium fontanum. I have had several plants of this 
which I have tried to harden sufficiently to trust 
in the Fernery ; but they are, at best, unhappy- 
looking, and the slugs devour the little juicy 
fronds which are about two inches long, and in 
appearance like the young fronds of Asplenium 
lanceolatum. In a cool greenhouse, Fontanum 
