The creature we figure is not a mollusk but a fern. It is remarkably like a shell fish however, and the illusion has been favored by its owner planting it in a large shell, suspended in his conservatory. It is customary to call the green blades which come out from the crown and spread like huge ears around the base, barren fronds. They are, it is true, always barren, but the erect growths are also very often barren, though the spores when they appear are towards the ends of these erect fronds. It is known as the Elk's-horn fern, the erect fronds not unlike horns of the Elk. This is especially true of the older and more common species, Platy-cerium alcicorne. The species here figured is a much rarer plant, the erect fronds are not as •deeply divided as in the common one.

It was a good thought to plant it in a shell.

Platycerium grande.

Our engraving is from a photograph kindly communicated by Mr. Henry C. Gibson of Philadelphia, in whose beautiful conservatory the plant is growing.