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latter, with the underside of its fronds studded with drops of golden 

 fructification, adorning the old pollard oaks and willows. The hart's 

 tongue {Scolopendrium vulgare) occurs in some spots in beautiful 

 profusion, and its fructification is also exceedingly curious. The 

 hard fern (Blechnum boreale) is very abundant in some localities. 

 It covers acres of ground in Cornard and Assington woods. That 

 beautiful fern the spleenwort {Asplenium Trichomanes) is found in 

 two or three localities near us ; and whether growing on a wall where 

 perhaps the length of its fronds scarcely exceeds half an inch, or on 

 a shady bank where they attain a length of eight or nine inches, it is 

 one of the prettiest of our native species. The black spleenwort 

 {A. Adiantum-nigrum) is much more frequent, and is plentiful near 

 Bulmer. The rue-leaved spleenwort {A. Ruta-muraria) we have 

 only observed in one spot — the wall of a village churchyard about 

 three miles from us.* 



" Not the Jlowers only, but even the leaves of plants afford much 

 interest to the attentive observer. They exhibit very great variety in 

 form, character, and colour. Amongst our British plants no fewer 

 than sixty-nine distinct forms of leaf are recognized ; as round, 

 oval, pear-shaped, heart-shaped, strap-shaped, spear-shaped, kidney- 

 shaped, crescent-shaped, hand-shaped, arrow-shaped, wedge-shaped, 

 lyre-shaped, winged, doubly winged, feathered, triply feathered, &c, 

 &c. And as to character, some hang on long footstalks, others em- 

 brace the stem ; some are rough, others smooth, or shining, downy, 

 hairy, woolly, prickly, or thorny ; beset with minute hooks, or rough 

 with poisonous spines : and in colour there is as wide a range, from 

 the lightest shades of green and yellow, to the richest tints of the 

 darkest crimson. The seed leaves of plants usually vary in shape 

 from their general foliage ; and in many species, the lower leaves and 

 the stem leaves are of very different form." K. 



" * The scaly spleenwort (Ceterach officinarnm) is not, I believe, a native of this 

 part of England. It flourishes on some shaded rockwork in our garden, and we have 

 raised young plants from the seed both of this species and of the rarer sea fern (As- 

 plenium marinum). 



" There are 1400 species of ferns known to naturalists, of which about 40 species 

 are found in the British Isles." 



Vol. hi. 4 e 



