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THE FERN PARADISE. 
this fern will grow magnificently. It will thrive 
even in common garden soil ; but it will thrive 
best in true fern soil — a peaty, loamy, sandy 
mixture. 
2. THE SOFT PRICKLY SPIIELD FERN. 
Polystichum angulare. 
NOTHING puzzled us more in our earlier fern- 
hunting excursions than the distinction between 
the Hard and Soft Prickly Shield Ferns. The 
two ferns are usually considered as distinct 
species, although some botanists rank them 
both as one species — Polystichum aculeatum — re- 
garding Angulare merely as a variety. We have 
chosen to consider them as distinct species, 
and shall now indicate the points of diffe- 
rence which we have noted, showing at the 
same time up to what point the two ferns are 
like each other. In being generally distributed 
throughout the United Kingdom the one resem- 
bles the other. Both ordinarily grow in the 
same situations, and the fronds of Angulare , like 
