INTRODUCTION. I 



position, and appendages), and this, therefore, 

 is the first thing to be looked to for disco- 

 vering the genus ; and for this purpose, and in 

 order to become fully acquainted with the 

 beauties, and discover clearly the minuter 

 features, of our subject, it were advisable to 

 provide one's self with a magnifying lens, a 

 pocket " Coddington," for example, which may 

 be had for about a crown. In deciding after- 

 wards on the individual species, which a little 

 practice can alone teach correctly, it must, 

 however, be borne in mind, that though each 

 may have one ordinary or typical form, yet, 

 from soil, situation, locality, and other causes, 

 variations will oftentimes occur; nor do the 

 very young plants at first present all the com- 

 plete points of their respective characters ; how- 

 ever, still their identity may be traced through 

 these occasional modifications. 



To proceed, then, to their fructification. The 

 dust-like and almost invisible seeds, or spores, 

 of Ferns are contained in little cases, or theca* 



* The tint of both of these changes, of course, in ripening ; 

 the latter also, retaining to the end something of their trans- 

 parency, often seem of the hue of the former while yet con- 

 taining them, though after their departure perceived to be 

 really of their own dusky brown or reddish colour. 



