4 
FE^NS OF THE WEST. 
thirds inhabit the tropics ; nearly two hundred are found in the United 
States ; and about seventy in the far West. 
Though the ferns of our region are few, they are sought by botanists 
and amateurs more than those of any other part of our land, because of 
their scarcity, their many peculiarities, and the frequent discovery of 
new species, as well as for their beauty. 
In the West the lack of moisture has kept away our eastern ferns, 
leaving the field open to a few species that are able to resist the drought. 
These are very woolly, hairy, or powdery. In the higher mountains and 
along the Pacific coast where there is more moisture, a few eastern 
ferns grow, together v/ith many others of interest. 
§ 3. Habits. — The most favorable localities for the growth of ferns 
are damp and shady ravines (where all the larger kinds occur) ; next 
come the clefts of wet precipitous rocks, especially where they face to the 
north ; here grow the bladder- and rock-ferns, cliff - brakes, the small 
spleenworts and shield-ferns ; beneath loose rocks on the mountains 
and hills the Woodsias, cliff- and rock-brakes are found ; on the hillsides, 
growing like other plants, are the gold-fern, brake, large spleenworts, and 
shield-ferns ; around the few springs and watercourses in arid regions 
the maiden-hair {A. Capillus- Veneris') grows; and in the north on de- 
caying logs, stumps and trees (sometimes two hundred feet above the 
ground) grow the polypodys. 
§ 4. Mode of Growth. — On examining the under side of a ripe 
fern-leaf there will be. found a delicate brown . powder which is composed 
of a multitude of small grains, each of which is able to produce one or 
more fern plants. These minute seeds do not have little plants already 
formed in them as true seeds do, and so they have received the name of 
^^spores.” 
After a spore has lain in a favorable place for a time, it absorbs water, 
swells, bursts its coat, and spreads out over the ground forming a little 
green leaf (yprothallhmi) from whose under surface many small hairs grow 
downwards and become roots. This little leaf is coniposed of innumer- 
able cells (so small that it requires a high magnifying power to discover 
them), some of which grow in a peculiar manner. A partition is formed 
across the middle making two cells, an upper (^arciiegoniufii) and a lower. 
The lower cell fills itself with mucilage which afterwards absorbs water 
till it bursts through the under side of the leaf, leaving a little tube be- 
hind which leads to the upper cell. On the margin of our little leaf is 
a row of still different ceils {ojitlmndici) , which as they grow project be- 
low the leaf like little balls. These are filled with still smaller bodies 
{antherozoids) floating in them. These are covered with coiled threads, 
the front ones having little hairs upon them which, when the cells 
{antheridid) burst, move back and forth continually and drive them 
through the water (for they do not develop except in water) in one di- 
rection. These correspond to the grains of pollen in flowering plants. 
As they move through the water, some of them enter the tubes and reach 
and fertilize the cells (arckegonia) which immediately begin to grow. 
As the cell enlarges it protrudes below the leaf, and a part of it (called 
the ^Toot”) fastens upon the leaf drawing nourishment from the other 
