ioo THE FERN PARADISE. 



other plants ? The general answer to this ques- 

 tion is that a fern is a flowerless plant. Although 

 flowerless, it is not seedless ; but its peculiarity is 

 that it acquires its seeds without the intervention 

 of flowers. Let us borrow just one hard word 

 from botany and we only do so because in one 

 word it explains the most exact distinction between 

 ferns and other seed-bearing plants. Ferns, then, 

 belong among plants to the class Cryptogamia, 

 which literally means " concealed fructification." 

 They are therefore, although flowerless, seed- 

 bearing plants, and when they bear seed they 

 hide it away. Those who have never seen a fern 

 would naturally, at first, experience some little 

 difficulty in knowing although bearing in mind 

 the general definition which we have given how 

 to distinguish a fern from another plant when 

 both are the one without seeds, and the other 

 without flowers or seeds. No definition which 

 would be sufficiently popular for our purpose 

 can be offered to remove this difficulty. Certain 

 peculiarities of ferns can be mentioned, and when 

 these are remembered, one or two visits to a 



