FERNS. 9 



would be converted into a river's bed, and the waters be 

 mighty enough to roll the huge boulders from the hills 

 beyond. The rock on which I seated myself was covered 

 with stony j^ipes : it was, in fact, a mass of fossil coral : 

 and in another of the boulders I recognised remains of 

 the long-extinct animal lilies : while many had lain so 

 long among the trees there, that they were covered with 

 moss and rock plants, and the graceful Ferns waved 

 proudly over them, like Cypresses, marking the tomb of 

 the corals and encrinites. I was geologist enough to 

 know that another member of the same rock formation 

 which contains these is replete in fossil Ferns and their 

 allies. These early -created plants — these patriarchs of 

 vegetation — form the chief part of the coal measures. 

 Thus we may well regard Ferns as the aristocracy of vege- 

 table life, the " oldest family in the country." To date 

 from William the Conqueror they would consider fungus 

 gentility indeed ! Certainly, as we see them in England, 

 they are very reduced and insignificant members of the 

 ancient and honourable house, but they may hold up their 

 heads proudly, and share with the Bruce the motto " Fui- 

 mus." In the far back ages, before the coal cellars of the 

 earth were furnished, they were distributed in great 

 quantities over the northern hemisphere, large areas being 

 covered with a multitude of Ferns or Horsetails, of but 

 one or two species ; while in other extensive stretches a 

 few other species prevailed. We are told that this is still 

 the case in the southern hemisphere ; and in Van Diemens 

 Land, and New Zealand especially, they grow in such 

 profusion as to choke the young trees, and admit no 

 undergrowth of smaller species, themselves attaining the 



