52 



7 

 7 



PREFACE. 



THIS little volume, which is virtually an abridgment of 

 the Popular History of British Ferns, having been 

 provided for the use of beginners in the study of these 

 charming wild plants, it has been made an especial 

 object to avoid technicalities as far as waa possible, 

 and to afford plain, and, it is to be hoped, easily under- 

 stood, descriptions of the plants. 



The varieties which are now known to occur among our 

 wild Ferns, are so numerous, that only a few of the more 

 striking have been noticed. A full enumeration of them 

 would have taken up much space, and would only have 

 distracted the attention of the learner from the species 

 which it is important he should first become acquainted, 

 with. 



Being intended as a first book, many details of structure, 

 of distribution, &c., have also been omitted with the view 

 of simplifying the main features of the subject. When 

 these have been well mastered, the inquirer will meet with 



