6o 
BEAUTIFUL FERNS. 
Dryopteris fragrans, Schott, Gen. Fil., Observ. sub Polysticho. 
Nephrodium fragrans, Richardson, “ App. to Frankl. Journ., p. 753." — 
Hooker & Greville, Ic. Fil., t. Ixx. — Hooker, Sp. Fil., iv., 
p. 122. — Hooker & Baker, Syn. Fil., p. 275. 
Dryopteris ruhim idmim spirans, Ammann, “Ruth., p. 251.” 
Hab. — In crevices of shaded cliffs, and on mossy rocks, especially 
near cascades and rivulets, from Northern New England to Wisconsin, 
and northward to Arctic America. Also in the Caucasus, and in Siberia, 
Mantchooria. and Kamtschatka. Special American localities are Mount 
Kineo, Maine, A. H. and C. E. Smith ; at Berlin Falls, the “ Alpine Cas- 
cade,” and the “ Gulch,” all near the White Mountains, H. Willey; Mount 
Mansfield, Vermont, C. G. Pringle ; Lake Avalanche, Adirondack Moun- 
tains, New York, C. H. Peck ; Falls of St. Croix, Wisconsin, C. C. Parry, 
and on the Penokee Iron Range, in the same State, Lapham ; Saguenay 
River, Canada, D. A. Watt. It is apparently more common farther north ; 
Sitka, Iliuliuk, Unalaska, Arakamtchetchene, Kotzebue Bay, Igloolik, Ritten- 
benk in Greenland, and several other places, are recorded as stations for it. 
Description. — The root-stock is rather stout, ascending or 
erect ; and its apparent thickness is much increased by the per- 
sistent bases of stalks, which also give it a dense covering of 
broad bright-brown chaffy scales. The fronds, frequently to the 
number of six or eight, besides old and shrivelled ones, stand in 
a crown at the upper end of the root-stocks, resting on stalks 
from one to four inches long, which are usually very chaffy, the 
chaff continued along the rachis and midribs, though composed 
of smaller scales than those lower down. The fronds are from 
three or four to ten inches in length ; and the greatest breadth, 
just above the middle, is from one-fifth to onc-si.xth of the length. 
