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MY NATIVE FERNS. 



Nothing but loyalty to the Editor could have induced 

 me to undertake this paper. His signal example, in filling 

 the pages of our Gazette with matter so valuable and 

 interesting ought to constrain others to follow as best 

 they can. There is nothing particularly noteworthy about 

 my collection ; but I went about it in obedience to the 

 Editor's wish, and in the hope that others, with better 

 reasons for venturing upon publicity, may be induced to 

 do the same. 



In childhood I learned the principal species from my 

 mother, but my real interest began in Oxford days, when 

 the necessity for a rest drove me into the fields and woods. 

 The part of the County Cork in which I lived provided 

 ferns in plenty, but there were no ' pteridologists ' at hand, 

 and I had to do all the work of discovery unhelped. 

 Often I was sorely puzzled, as I sometimes am still, by 

 the different appearance which ferns present at different 

 ages, and different stages of development. There were, 

 however, compensations : the necessity of depending on 

 oneself bred the habit of examining everything that met 

 the eye, and thus provided a useful training. 



Some years passed before the possibility of making a 

 collection recurred ; changing work and houses in towns 

 do not favour horticulture. But when I settled ' in the 

 nineties' into my present home, in the County Dublin, I 

 was not long before beginning afresh. Here there has 

 been much to help. The lovers of native ferns, if not 

 numerous, are enthusiastic, and membership of the 

 Pteridological Society is a constant source of inspiration. 

 In particular I should like to acknowledge what I owe to 

 Mr. Stansfield. His catalogue when first it reached me 

 was a revelation, and from him I have acquired most of 

 my finest specimens. 



But it is time we got into the ferneries. Cedar Mount 



