MALE BUCKLER FERN. 
41 
travelled through Russia and Tartary in the middle of 
the seventeenth century, gave one of the earliest and 
best accounts of this curious plant. He says “ it has 
the shape and appearance of a lamb, with feet, head, 
and tail distinctly formed : its skin is covered with a 
white down as soft as silk. The Tartars and Musco¬ 
vites esteem it highly, and preserve it in their houses 
with great care. The sailor who gave me one of these 
precious plants, found it in a wood, and had its skin 
made into an under waistcoat. I learned at Astrachan 
that the lamb grows on a stalk about three feet high ; 
that the part by which it is sustained is a kind of 
navel, and that it turns itself round and bends down¬ 
wards to the herbage, which serves for its food. They 
also said that it dies and pines away when the grass 
fails. They added, that the wolves are very fond of 
these vegetable lambs, and they devour them with 
avidity, because they resemble in taste the animal 
whose name they bear; and that in fact they have 
bones, flesh, and blood; and hence they are called 
zoophytes, i. e. plant-animals. Many other things I 
was likewise told, which might, however, appear 
scarcely probable to such as have not seen them.” 
This wonderful tale of Struys’s, though of course 
much exaggerated, is based on truth. The rhizoma of 
N ephrodium or A spidium Baromez does, when the fronds 
are removed, somewhat resemble a lamb in appearance, 
and is covered by a soft downy substance, which may 
be compared to a fleecy coat. Like the stems of other 
