56 THE IMITATION, IN CLOSED CASES, OF 
a much higher temperature than the upper part : 
the latter, however, had the advantage in the 
height of summer. There was no sunshine from 
the end of October to the end of March. The 
range of the thermometer throughout the year 
in the lowest part was between 45° and 90°, whilst 
at the top it was between 30° and 130°. Thus 
was procured, in a space not exceeding ten feet, 
an insular, and what may be called, an excessive 
climate. In the lower region were planted the 
following Palms : — Phoenix dactylifera , P . leonen - 
sis , Rhapis flabelliformis, R. Sierotzik , a small but 
lovely species from Japan, Chamcerops humilis , 
Seaforthia nobilis, Cocos botryophora , Corypha 
australis , Latania Borbonica , and one or two 
others. 
Of Ferns more than one hundred species were 
planted, and amongst these the Asplenium prte- 
morsum grew remarkably fine, each frond lasting 
three or four years : the Callipteris elegans (the 
Diplazium Seramporense of gardens), which had 
been sterile at Loddiges’ for more than fifty years, 
produced a frond covered with fructification, the 
Didymochlcena pulcherrima , and last, but not least, 
the Trichomanes speciosum . Of Scitamineous 
plants, of which there were ten or a dozen species, 
the Calathea zebrina was the most conspicuous. 
The Caladium esculentum , and numerous other 
