A PARADISE OF FERNS. 
29 
the Hartstongue and Male Fern, are to be found 
specimens of two other of the large-growing species 
of the British ferns — the Broad Buckler hern 
( Lastrea dilatata ), and the Soft Prickly Shield 
Fern ( Polystichum angular e). Both, when finely 
grown, are most splendid objects. The former is 
one of the most handsome of our native ferns, its 
broad arching fronds sweeping upwards and out- 
wards with exquisite grace, and sometimes attain- 
ing like the Male Fern, to which it is closely allied, 
a height of four or five feet. The chief character- 
istic of the Soft Prickly Shield Fern is the minute 
and beautiful manner in which its fronds are divided 
into small angular-shaped saw-edged leaflets. It 
is often densely clothed with rich brown scales, 
which contrast finely with the dark deep green of 
its fronds. 
Turning now away from the dark shelter of 
overhanging trees, the pathway, wending upwards 
still, passes between high hedges, whose dark and 
tangled vegetation almost meets overhead. PI ere, 
shooting up majestically from the deep rich soil 
of the hedge-bank, are some Brakes ( Pteris 
