the book op 
6 
AD1ANTUM CAP1LLUS— VENERIS (THE MAIDEN-HAIR 
FERN). 
In this solitary hardy member of a large family we have as 
it were a warm-blooded exotic which can only tolerate our 
climate under specially favourable circumstances, in point of 
fact it is far more tender than many exclusively exotic 
Adiantums, for the gold- 
dusted A. Williamsii, 
which so much resembles 
it in make, survives where 
Capillus veneris perishes, 
as also do A. chiliense, 
assimile, formosum, &c., 
the moral of which intro- 
duction is that if we want 
to find this Fern we must 
search our warmer coasts, 
where the Gulf stream 
baffles Jack Frost per- 
sistently, and if when we 
have it, we want to 
retain it, we must keep 
it warm in the winter. 
It is entirely distinct from 
any other of our native 
Ferns, the fronds being 
cut up into distinct, y 
stalked fan-shaped divisions 
with slightly cut edges, 
and the spores wrapped 
up in short marginal lines 
A \ ARIETY OF OUR HARDY MaIDEN-HAIR jn thg rol]ed 5ack edges of 
Fern (Adiantum capillus veneris thg pinnu , e s. Its habitat 
is the cliffs and rocks of 
the sea shore, which gives the clue to the soil it needs for 
its thin creeping rhizome to penetrate and permit it to 
establish itself properly, i.e . , an open rubbly compost of 
vegetable mould and loam. Despite its comparative rarity 
it has not been chary in giving us improved editions of 
itself even editions de luxe, since Cornubiense, the plumose 
form, has dared to make a bold and fairly successful bid as a 
rival to that Queen of Adiartums, A. Farleyense; so far, 
