INTRODUCTION 



is necessary, and we find, therefore, the living plant conforming to a number 

 of principal types, and under these principal types almost endless differences 

 in detail. In the waters and on the damp rocks we have the primitive plants 

 of a single cell ; where there is the thinnest coating of soil, the moss ; where- 

 there is a thicker layer of humus, formed from the decay of other vegetation, 

 the ferns ; and where there are corresponding depths of permeable soil, the 

 flowering herbs, the shrubs, and the majestic trees. Then, to utilize and 

 make further utilizable the decayed and worn-out parts of the green plants,, 

 we have the fungus tribe, unable to produce for themselves from the 

 elements, but living as saprophytes on dead matter, and some of them a 



parasites upon the living. 



Now, to an author it is, 

 of course, impossible to take' 

 his readers out of doors ; 

 but we trust that long be- 

 fore the last page of this- 

 work has been reached we 

 shall have fulfilled the hum- 

 bler task of awakening an 

 interest in the subject that 

 shall compel the reader to 

 go forth and make that 

 closer acquaintance for him- 

 self. 



It may be added that 

 the study of Botany has 

 special advantages over 

 almost all other sciences,, 

 inasmuch as it is concerned 

 with objects which are found 

 in every region of the globe.. 

 It is a study which relieves 

 the monotony of town life, 

 and adds interest to every 

 walk in the country. It 

 proposes nothing that could 

 cause distress to a sensitive 

 mind. It quickens the 

 observing powers of the 

 mind ; the habits of accu- 

 racy and caution, so needful 



in every walk of life, grow out of the practice of putting Nature to the 

 question. Best of all, no one is excluded from the study : the poor are as, 

 free to pursue it as the rich. 



[//. J. Shepntone. 

 -ELK'S-HOKN FERN (Platycerium grande). 



One of the grandest of the ferns, with fronds five or six feet in length It 

 grows on the trunks or brandies of trees. KORTHHKN AUSTRALIA and ASIA. 



