8o 
THE BOOK OF 
lengthened, and tasselled, and even given them the importance of 
individual fronds, the plain flat strap she has elaborated into 
ornate frills, and the simple straight edges into deeply-cut 
fringes, the bluntly pointed frond tip has in one direction 
been expanded into finely- 
divided tassels, and in another 
abruptly cut off and finished 
up with cups and rosettes and 
thorns behind or before, the 
smooth surfaces above or 
below she has broken up into 
linear ridges or decked with 
rough excrescences in many 
varied styles, and, finally, 
having seemingly exhausted 
her ingenuity of plan in all 
these special particulars, she 
combines several of the various 
eccentricities in one and the 
same individual, and, with 
Mr. Lowe as her ally, stamps 
the features of a dozen diverse 
parents upon one and the 
same fortunate, or unfortunate, 
plant, not always to the 
enhancement of its charms. 
Even the normally green colour 
is varied, and striped with 
white or yellow ; but as every 
example acquired by the editor 
has lost its variegation when 
shifted, it appears that a 
thoroughbred variegated form 
is still a desideratum. 1 he 
Hart’s-tongue is peculiarly in- 
discriminate in its habitats, 
but likes some lime in the soil. 
Hence it is usually plentiful 
on limestone formations, and 
we also find it growing in pro- 
fusion in a sma 1 state on old 
walls, where, of course, it gets plenty of this mineral in the 
mortar ; on the oilier hand, however, we find it attaining its 
largest size in hedgerows and in woods, where its source of 
lime supply is not so evident. Generally speaking, it is locally 
associated with the soft Shield Fern, and, like that species, is 
v. i. 
