Vlll INTRODUCTION. 



from a more laborious, to embrace for a brief period 

 a more delightful study : I am not the first since 

 Hylas who has loitered in the path of duty, and 

 amused himself with the flowers by the way. 



It was while wandering among the Welsh moun- 

 tains, in the autumn of 1837, that I first felt any 

 desire to know the names of Ferns. I had often 

 observed the variety that half covered some of those 

 bleak and desolate regions, where fern is cut, dried, 

 and housed as the only litter that can be obtained for 

 horses; but now, for the first time, I gathered 

 hundreds of fronds, and employed the evenings in 

 arranging them into supposed species. I found that 

 three species were abundant in the most dreary and 

 exposed wilds ; but where some rill tumbled over a 

 precipitous bank, or a ledge of rocks, keeping the 

 surface in a state of perpetual moisture, half a score 

 others were sure to be growing : in the chasm at 

 Ponterwyd I think I counted fourteen distinct 

 kinds. 



Of every species I could obtain, not only the fronds 

 but the roots were carefully conveyed home, and, 

 assisted by Withering and Smith, I set to work, 

 expecting to name them without diflficulty ; but how 

 shall I express my astonishment, when, after a 

 minute and really attentive investigation, I could 

 only be certain of two species — Pteris aquilina and 

 Polypodium vulgare ! I soon afterwards availed my- 

 self of the assistance of my botanical friends, and 

 obtained names for all my Ferns. Since then I have 



