CHAPTER IV. 



" But open eyes may well discern 

 Samples of pretty British Fern, 

 Wall Rue, Spleenwort, Black Maiden-hair, 

 On that old wall if scanned with care. 



" Then hasten, search the rocks and lanes, 

 The meadows, brooks, the heather plains, 

 The hedge, the dingle, copse, and all, 

 But don't forget the old stone wall." 



HE large and very interesting family of the 

 Spleenworts comes next in botanical order. 

 Here the spore-masses are placed in lines situ- 

 ated on the side veins, and the covers are flat and open 

 towards the middle of the leaflet. 



The alternate-leaved Spleenwort (Asplenium alterni- 

 folfum, Plate III., Jig. 1), is one of the rarest in the 

 family. It has been found in the 

 south of Scotland, in Northumber- 

 land, Cumberland, and North 

 Wales, but never in abundance. 

 It grows more freely upon the 

 black schist rocks between Conway 

 and Beddgelert than anywhere 

 else m Britain, it is a slender 

 plant, the leaflets covering two-thirds of the rachis, 



