PEEFACE TO THE ILLUSTRATED (FOURTH) EDITION. 



lias been entrusted, to state that it has been 

 executed with the utmost faithfulness, and that 

 the impressions he has produced are absolutely 

 true to Nature. The grouping of the several 

 species of British Ferns (in Plates 2 to 8 inclusive), 

 according to their respective genera, enables the 

 Reader at one glance to determine the differences 

 between the various species belonging to each 

 genus. 



As the Author pens these lines, concluding the 

 labour of love involved in the revision and 

 extension of the Fern papers in this volume, 

 he is reminded, by the sounds and sights which 

 indicate the joyousness of Nature, that the spirit 

 of Spring is abroad, breathing its gentle influence 

 on all things, both animate and inanimate. 



' The Spring is here the delicate-footed May, 



With its slight fingers full of leaves and flowers ; 

 And with it comes a thirst to be away, 



Wasting in woodpaths its voluptuous hours.' 



