THE SPLEENWORTS. 
281 
The finest specimens of the beautiful Scale 
Fern which we have ever encountered, we found 
on the top of a very high wall which skirted 
another wood in the neighbourhood of Totnes. 
The large stones at the top of the wall had 
become loose with time, and the perpetual drop- 
pings of leaves during many years from the trees 
which overhung it, had accumulated a rich de- 
posit of leaf-mould between the loosened stones. 
Immediately underneath the crowning stones 
we found the largest specimens of Ceterach , with 
fronds over seven inches long, and enormous roots 
extending to nearly the whole width of the wall, 
and forming a compact mass nearly a foot square. 
This wall, like the one at Berry Pomeroy, w r as 
immersed in the deepest shade flung by the over- 
hanging trees. 
Planted in the highest and shadiest clefts of the 
out-of-door rockery, with leaf-mould, sand, and old 
bits of mortar for soil ; kept sufficiently moist, but 
not drenched with water, the elegant Scale Fern 
will succeed w r ell. 
