VI.] 



ABOUT A FERN. 



107 



supplied with moisture, it rapidly succumbs, and 

 shrivels up beyond recovery. Such a circumstance 

 alone would give a clue to its favourite habitat. It 

 is in the immediate neighbourhood of water, whether 



FIG. 99. 



it be the percolating moisture of a bog, a tinkling 

 stream, or a splashing cascade. To see it in all its 

 loveliness we must 



" Hie to haunts right seldom seen, 

 Lovely, lonesome, cool, and green." 



