6 BKITISH FERNS. 



that all the essential points necessary for the recognition of 

 the species may be present and available in well-selected 

 herbarium specimens, so that those who have not conve- 

 nience for cultivating them, may yet store up in their cabi- 

 nets ample materials for amusement and instruction in 

 leisure hours. 



There is something peculiarly fascinating in the graceful 

 outline and disposition of parts so common among the 

 Ferns. Gay colours are indeed generally wanting to them, 

 and they wear while in life a livery of sober green, which 

 can scarcely be said to gain ornament from the brownish 

 scales, with which in some of our native species it is asso- 

 ciated. In some of the Ferns of tropical countries, how- 

 ever, as for example in some species of Cfymnogramma and 

 Cheilanthes, the lower surface is covered more or less with a 

 silvery or golden powder, which adds considerably to their 

 beauty; and there is among exotic Ferns considerable 

 variety, even of the tints of green. The more sober-tinted 

 natives of our northern latitude have, however, but compa- 

 ratively little of such variety of hue ; so that it is not in the 

 colouring that their attractions rest, nor is it in their endur- 

 ance, for a large proportion of the native species lose all 

 their beauty as soon as the frost reaches them, and for 

 nearly one-half of the year are dormant unless artificially 

 sheltered. We may conclude, then, that it is the elegant 

 forms and graceful habits of the majority of the Ferns, 

 native and exotic, which render them so generally pleasing, 

 even to those who are slow to perceive beauty apart from 

 rich and gaudy colouring. 



The number of species of British Ferns may be taken at 

 from forty to fifty, according as some of the more doubtful 

 forms are ranked as species or varieties. There are, how- 

 ever, a much larger number of curious and interesting varia- 

 tions. 



What is a Fern ? This question will be best answered by 

 means of a familiar comparison. 



Every reader of this book, aided by that intuitive percep- 

 tion which has grown up with the growing faculties and 

 acquired strength from the little experiences of childhood 

 and youth, will know what is meant by a flower. We must 

 take for granted, that all those into whose hands these pages 

 may fall, are familiar with such natural productions as the 

 Buttercup, the Poppy, the Brier-rose, the Daisy, the Dande- 

 lion, and others, so profusely dispersed over the meadows 

 and corn-fields, along the hedgerows, and by the waysides ; 



