Fill ens. Gl 



pinna, their subdivisions pinnules, anii tluirs a-rain (or, in any rase, the ultimate 

 and sniaUest divisions) segments. Tlie ritchis (back-bone) is the part wliich, in fact, 

 stands in that rehition to the divisions or subdivisions — the central stalk us \vc may 

 call it — and the cnsta is the mid-rib of the leafy segment. We come next to the 

 fructitication, which is always ' seated on the under-snrlacc of the frond, in round 

 heaps, in lines (straight or curved), or in patches. These are called sort, wliich 

 word, indeed, only means "heaps." If these sori be closely examined witli a lens, 

 they will be seen to be conipo.sed (in all Puli/podiaceie) of smaller stalked bodies, 

 with a jointed ring nearly surrounding them ; these are the T/u'cir, or sporangia ; 

 and, last of all, when the fructification is thoroughly ripe, these thcac burst asunder 

 and scatter their contents in the form of the tinest dust, which, in common parlance, 

 is the seed, but, technically, the spores. The difiercnce is that the true seed (of 

 Pluenogamous plants) germinates from given points, one point always descending 

 as a rootlet, and another ascending as a leaf-bud; whereas in the spore (^thc analogous 

 organ in C'ryptogamous plants) germination takes place indifferently from all points. 

 But I had neaidy forgotten one other part of which it is necessary to know the 

 name. A very large proportion of ferns have their sori covered with a thin filmy 

 or scaly covering, shaped to suit the form of the sorus. This is the indusium, some- 

 times also called the involuere. It is on the presence or absence of this covering, 

 on the shape of the sori and the direction they take, as well as on the vcining of 

 the fronds and the different structure of the tliocas (which are not always ringed, 

 as just now described), that the divisions of the alliance "Fi/ieaks^' are made to turn. 



Many ierns have had medicinal virtues ascribed to them, whether with good 

 foundation or not, I am unable to say — probably, in order to prove eii'ective, a few 

 grains of faith should be added to the dose. 



The fronds of certain ferns contain mucilage, and so may he considered lenitive. 

 Some are certainly fragrant and aromatic — our European Lastraa oreopteris is 

 remarkably so, the plant being covered with small glands of an essential oil — it too 

 therefore may have some healing virtue of a mild nature. " Capillaire is so called 

 because prepaicd from Adianfnm capillas-T'eneris.^^ But, if all that is said be true, 

 there is hardly a complaint that may not have its cure in a fernery. Ferns arc 

 solvent, dcobstruent, sudorific, antiilieuniatic, anthelmintic, febrifugal, astringent 

 and purgative — they are tonic and emetic, and they cure the rickets. However, 

 (what is undoubtedly true and more iiractical), pigs feed upon the roots of Pteris 

 esculenta in Tasmania, and human beings will do the same when very hungry and 

 nothing better offers itself. Indeed, my friend Mr. Theobald tells me that ho found 

 "the young curly stems" (the crozicr-headcd fronds aforesaid) "very nice, when 

 boiled tender and mixed with butter and pepper." I should have thought they 

 would prove rather liusky food, from the quantity of dry scales which cover those 

 young shoots — and that lie must have been somewhat in the mood of the Prodig.il ; 

 however, the Scotch, I believe, eat nettle-tops, and like them ; and a Burmau is 

 almost as bad as a caterpillar in his omnivorous appetite for green tlangs, so, 

 wluit wonder ? But, to make an end with the uses of the Fern, the very spores 

 have been turned to good account, and have furnished the poet with a point : — 



Oadshill ; " We have tin' receipt of /fryi-seed, we walk invisitile." 



ITinrij IF. Part i. Act ii. Scene 1. 



The whole nund)er of known ferns nuiy be set down as about 2oOO, thotigh 

 every day new discoveries are being made and their number added to. Of this 

 number, I have found about 1 -tenth, or 212, in the Ti'uasserim Provinces, for my 

 seaich can hardly bo said to have extended farther. There must be more 

 yet even in these Pro^■inccs, and many more in the whole of Burma — the greater 



■ As a rcmarkahle instance of the saying that there is no nile without an exception, a fern h.is 

 hecn fciund iu Ceylon with its fruetilieiitiiiu on tlie upper instead of tlie lower surface '. I possess a 

 very fine specimen of " Aspiditim ain-ninliim," Synopsis, p. 2.53, wliieh liai all the fiuetilication on 

 the upper surface, or what may he called the wrong side. 



