332 
New Zealand Ferns 
Called by Mr. T. H. Potts the “Woolly Cloak Fern.” 
Though similar in some respects to Cheilanthes Sicberi, 
and growing in exactly the same local il ties, it may be 
distinguished by the darker-green and the more blunted 
outline of the fronds, the general hairiness of the under 
side, and the woolly appearance of the young crooks. 
Its favourite situation on scoria rocks is a depression 
where some mould has collected. If the plant and soil 
he removed bodily and placed in a similar position in 
the fernery, it will continue to flourish without a check, 
sending up numerous crooks like tufts of white cotton ; 
hut it makes little or no growth in the coldest winter 
months, and suffers somewhat from frost. 
Found also in Australia, Norfolk Island, and New 
Caledonia. 
I had an unusually luxuriant specimen of this little 
plant growing on the rocks in my fernery. The old, 
frost-bitten fronds having turned an unsightly brown, 
I cut them off before the spring growth appeared. When 
week followed week, and spring was succeeded by sum- 
mer, with no young crooks showing, I feared the plant 
was dead, for it is a quick-growing fern. Occasionally 
T had seen the woolly green head of a young crook push- 
ing through the soil, but it never came to anything. 
Thinking that my cutting away of the old fronds 
might have given the slugs access to the tender young 
shoots, I protected the plant with tobacco dust. In less 
than a week there were 15 vigorous fronds from 1 to 2 
inches high, and now the fern has covered the summit 
of the rock with a forest of dark-green fronds. 
I had known that slugs ate down the tender crooks of 
many ferns, but I was not aware how much protection 
was afforded by the old stalks. 
