INTKODUCTIODT. ' 3 



outline and disposition of parts^ whicli is so common among 

 the Ferns as to have become associated in idea witli this 

 portion of the vegetable creation. Gay colours are for the 

 most part wanting, and they wear, while in life and health, 

 nothing beyond a livery of sober green, which can scarcely 

 be said to gain ornament from the brownish scales and 

 seed-patches with which, in some species, it is associated 

 on the living plant. In certain exotic forms, indeed, as 

 for example in some species of Gymnor/ramma and Chei- 

 lanthes, the lower surface is covered more or less with a 

 silvery or golden powder, which adds considerably to their 

 beauty ; and in the wide range of the Ferns of all nations 

 there is to be observed considerable variety, even of the 

 tints of green. The more sober-tinted natives cf our 

 northern latitude can, however, boast but of comparatively 

 little such variety of hue. It is not, therefore, in their 

 colouring that their attractions rest : nor is it in their 

 endurance ; for a large proportion of the native species lose 

 aU their beauty as soon as the frost reaches them, and for 

 nearly one half of the year they are dormant, unless arti- 

 ficially sheltered. "We therefore conclude, that it is the 

 elegant forms and graceful habits of the majority of the 

 Ferns, native and exotic, which render them so generally 



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