THE FERN PARADISE. 



Wandering through, the cool lanes of Devon- 

 shire you may, too, meet with the fragrant Hay- 

 scented Buckler Fern (Lastrea rec.urva), which 

 emits so beautiful an odour when pressed in the 

 hand ; with the delicately and transparently- 

 leaved Marsh Buckler Fern (Lastrea tlielypteris) ; 

 with the Mountain Buckler Fern (Lastrea mon- 

 tana), whose silvery fronds make the air fragrant 

 when you tread upon them in their incipient un- 

 rolled state. But these varieties are not to be 

 commonly encountered in every Devonshire lane. 

 And still rarer though found in Devonshire are 

 the Lanceolate Spleenwort (Asplenium lanceola- 

 tum), the tiny Forked Spleenwort (Asplenium 

 septentrionale), the Tunbridge Filmy Fern (Hy- 

 menophyllum tunbridgense), and Wilson's Filmy 

 Fern (Hymenophyllum unilaterale). The Moon wort 

 (Botrychium lunaria), and the Common Adders- 

 tongue (Ophioglossum vulgatum), are also Ferns of 

 Devonshire growth. We do but enumerate these, 

 and pass on to speak of some of the Ferns which 

 may be seen in almost every Devonshire lane, and 

 which, although common in the sense of being 

 plentiful, are nevertheless amongst the mostbeau- 



74 





