EXPLANATORY. "3 



great a tendency to sit in rooms with closed doors and 

 windows. Some people seem almost to dread air in 

 motion, and they become, in time, so little used to it 

 that, at length, the body itself is brought into a morbid 

 state, currents of air become " draughts," and cold and 

 illness are the result. The air is the best friend we 

 have, and in seeking outdoor pastimes in the country we 

 obtain it in its best and purest form. The seeker after 

 ferns must ride his hobby into the wildest and most out- 

 of-the-way districts (page 2), and into the most delicious 

 nooks of greenery must climb hills, wind through 

 valleys, plunge into woods, follow the course of streams, 

 search rocks, hedgebanks, and forest-clumps, examine 

 old walls and tree-forks, and look everywhere, in short, 

 where green life has a chance of existence. 



But many persons who have a general knowledge of 

 ferns do not know the particular places in which the 

 various species should be looked for ; and it would 

 require the exercise of a very unusual memory to 

 remember the particular districts over which the various 

 species are distributed, or from which certain of the 

 commoner kinds are excluded. 



To supply such data in a concise form under the 

 name of each fern, after first giving illustrated "Definitions 

 of Terms," an illustrated chapter on " Fern Habitats," 

 and a chapter on " The Cultivation of Ferns," is the 

 especial purpose of this little volume. There will follow 

 a special chapter on the " Ferns round London," and an 

 alphabetical index of the particular localities mentioned 

 in the other sections of the book, 



