looking, and clothed with pointed scales. The seedcup in the fertile frond takes the place of a fork of the pinnule, having a hair or spike projecting from the centre.

This exceedingly beautiful and delicate fern is found only in Ireland, though it is said to have grown in Yorkshire. The Turk Waterfall, near Killarney, is the most celebrated locality for it; where, amidst the dripping rocks and the spray of the water, it forms a verdant drapery most charming to behold; but there are other stations in Ireland where it is found by botanists. At Blackstones, in the county of Kerry, it was discovered by two gentlemen growing in a wild and romantic cave, the rocky walls of which had been for ages covered with its overlapping fronds, forming a mass of the loveliest green; strongly contrasting with the darker and more sombre hue of the Killarney plant. This pretty fern is abundant in the island of Madeira, and is found in the West Indies and the islands of the North Atlantic.

From its peculiarly membranous texture, and moisture-loving nature, there have always appeared to be difficulties in the way of the cultivation of this fern. Mr. Ward's invention, however, has removed all these objections, and this beautiful fern is peculiarly successful in his closed cases. In his little book he gives interesting particulars concerning his experiments with this delicate little fern, and his perfect success in overcoming apparent difficulties.

He was induced to commence his experiments with

this fern on account of its intractable nature ander ordinary methods of culture. Loddiges, the celebrated nurseryman, could never keep it alive; and Mr. Ward relates that Baron Fischer, the superintendent of the botanical establishments of the Emperor of Russia, when he saw the plant growing in one of his cases, took off his hat, made a low bow to it, and said, "You have been my master all the days of my life." Mr. Ward thinks the difficulties in cultivating this fern arise solely from a dry atmosphere and the presence of adventitious matters.

With him it lived for

four years in a wide-mouthed bottle, covered with oiled silk, during which time it required no water; but having outgrown its narrow bounds, it was removed to some rock-work, in a fern-house, covered with a bell-glass, and occasionally watered. Here it produced fronds one-fourth larger than any native specimens from Killarney or elsewhere. Mr. Ward recommends that the rhizomes of this fern should be planted in a case, or under a bell-glass, and the fronds sprinkled with water two or three times a week in summer, less frequently in winter, keeping the door of the case always shut, a drainage-valve at the bottom always open. A subdued light, coming through tinted glass or coloured muslin, is desirable. In a case suited to Trichomanes it is unlikely that any other fern will thrive, unless it be Asplenium marinum.

A DECIDUOUS species of fern, dying down to the ground in the winter and appearing again in the spring. The root-stalk is densely tufted; the fronds spreading, two to four, or rarely six inches long. Their form is lanceolate, more or less broad, and in their mode of dursion they are pinnate; the pinna opposite, in pairs, of an obtusely oblong shape, with a deeply lobed or pinnatifid margin. They are of a thick dull-looking texture, hairy above, and clothed underneath with brownish bristle-like scales, among which the sori are almost concealed.

This is one of our rarest ferns. It grows on elevated and bleak places, in the fissures of rocks, in Wales and Scotland, and in some places in the North of England. It is spoken of by John Ray as being