FERNS, AND THEIR ALLIES. 2/ 



which had first been washed and peeled, avoiding, 

 however, the two columns of hard coloured tissue 

 with which they are threaded, and then placed the 

 pulp thus obtained in water. After four and twenty- 

 hours, the water had become extremely slimy and of 

 a yellow brown. This was carefully decanted, and 

 the pulp washed again with water, which was now 

 quite colourless. This also was decanted, and the 

 pulp, when sufficiently dry, was kneaded into a cake 

 and baked upon the hearth. The result was a coarse 

 but palatable food, perfectly free from any disagree- 

 able flavour — much better, indeed, to my taste, and 

 probably not less nutritious than Cassava bread." ^ 



After all, we may rest fairly well assured that ferns 

 and lichens only furnish a kind of famine food to be 

 employed in case of dire necessity, otherwise their 

 consumption would not be so limited. When it is 

 taken into account how much labour must be ex- 

 pended in collecting and preparing fern root for food, 

 which, at its best, is only to be described as palatable, 

 we may rest content that it is not worth the trouble 

 to make the experiment, except to gratify curiosity. 

 Supposing the edible portion to consist of starch or 

 lichenin, or some equivalent, the quantity must be 

 very small in proportion to the original bulk, and 

 that of an inferior quality. 



Another fern is also utilized by the native blacks of 

 Van Diemen's Land, who split open about a foot and 

 a half of the top of the trunk of the common Tree 

 Fern, Ciboiium Billardieri, and, taking out the heart, 



' Rev. \l, J. Berkeley, in Journal of Linnxan Society, 1857, vol. i. 

 p. 156. 



