48 THE FERN PARADISE. 



that at the darkest and densest part of the canopy 

 slight openings afford a view of the sky, and 

 whilst they admit the softened sun-rays, give 

 the prospect of a beautiful wood-crowned hill, 

 rising upwards beyond the delightful canopy, 

 which hangs so gracefully over the clear and 

 glancing waters of the brook. 



For some little distance the stream runs by the 

 side of the road we are following, until when 

 the latter takes a sudden turn to the right, it 

 disappears under a stone bridge, re-appearing 

 for a brief space and then being finally lost as it 

 flows away across the meadows. Peer over the 

 side of the bridge and you will find little tufts 

 of that beautiful fern, the Common Maidenhair 

 Spleenwort ; also the tiny Wall-rue, and small speci- 

 mens of the Hartstongue. You will rarely find a 

 Devonshire bridge, unless it be quite a new structure, 

 without its complement of ferns the rock, or stone- 

 and-mortar-loving species. Whether it be a river 

 bridge, or a tiny arch that crosses a brook, its sides 

 are almost certain to possess at least one kind, often 

 many, of the moisture-loving plants. No doubt it 



