NOVEMBER. 249 



marshes. A light friable soil, and more especially that formed by 

 the decay of tree-leaves, mosses, or other vegetables, is suitable to 

 the roots of most Ferns ; but some delight in limestone soils, as 

 Grammitis ceterach, Polypodium calcarcum, and Cistopteris fragilis; 

 whilst the Asplenium septentrionale and Woodsia ilvensis seem to 

 affect the basaltic trap and the harder ])rimary rocks. The oj)erations 

 of human industry have greatly interfered with the natural distribu- 

 tion of Ferns in this country. They have been banished from our 

 roads, corn-fields, meadows, and artificial pastures ; and the cutting 

 of peat, and burning of heath and furze, often check the growth of 

 species fitted to thrive in places where these operations are per- 

 formed. On the other hand, our hedge-banks, loose stone fences, 

 old buildings, and neglected quarries, frequently become artificial 

 fernetums, by affording suitable habitats for several species. These 

 remarks on the distribution of Polypodiaceee will be understood to 

 apply to the island of Great Britain only. Ireland has twenty-six 

 species of dorsiferous Ferns ; but of their range and distribution 

 within that island little is known. All those of Ireland are natives 

 also of England." 



Another passage, on the uses of Ferns, may be cited : 



" The uses of the Ferns are not very conspicuous. Their bitter 

 principle renders them unpalatable to ^ll creatures. Neither men nor 

 brutes employ any species as an article of food, unless driven by the 

 necessity of hunger ; and even the little insects that infest herbaria 

 refuse to prey upon them. Professor Henslow was kind enough to 

 point out to me some time since that I had forgotten the circum- 

 stance of the New Zealanders living mainly upon Fern roots. It is 

 true that they do so ; still Ferns are a sorry food, and now that the 

 colonists have taught the natives the art of cultivation. Fern roots 

 are becoming less and less an article of consumption. That hunger 

 alone induced the islanders to use these roots as food, may be in- 

 ferred from the circumstance, that they were ready enough to work 

 for the first settlers merely to be supplied with the commonest Euro- 

 pean grain or pulse, though the Fern grew abundantly on every side, 

 and might have been procured and prepared comparatively without 

 labour or expense. They are not, how'ever, wholly useless, either in 

 medicine or the arts. Their nauseous taste renders them efficacious 

 in expelling intestinal worms ; some of them have been used as a 

 substitute for hops in brewing, and with better success than most 

 other plants, on account of the tannin and g^lic acid they contain, 

 precipitating the feculent matter in the wort. The same constituent 

 principles render them also serviceable in preparing kid and other 

 light leathers, and when burnt they yield much comparatively pure 

 potass. The dried fronds of the common brakes are valuable to pack 

 fruit in; and as they retain moisture less, are much better than straw 

 to shield garden plants from frost. Except for these uses, the Ferns 

 have been but little employed, unless, indeed, for those purposes to 

 which most plants when dry are available, namely, for thatch, for 

 fodder, and for fuel." 



Similar information is given in respect to the other groups asso- 



