CHAPTER VIII. 
THE MOUNTAIN PARSLEY FERN. 
Allosorus crispus. 
O compare this exceedingly pretty little 
fern to a tuft of parsley would be to 
give it, perhaps, the best general description 
which could be found for it. About six inches 
is its average height ; but we ourselves have 
had specimens brought by a friend from the 
neighbourhood of Creetown, in Scotland, seven 
or eight inches in length : and it is even pos- 
sible that larger specimens might be obtained 
from habitats where the conditions of growth 
are unusually favourable. The Parsley Fern has 
two distinct kinds of frond — barren and fertile. 
This distinction in the fronds exists in many 
of our native species ; but it is only in some 
that, as in the case of the Parsley Fern, the 
