INTRODUCTION. 3 



portion of the vegetable creation. Gaudy colouring is 

 indeed absent, 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, with 

 which in some of our native species it is associated on the 

 living plant. In some exotic forms indeed, as for example 

 in the species of Gymnogramma, 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 considerable variety, 

 even of the tints of green, to be observed. The more sober- 

 tinted natives of our northern latitude can, however, boast 

 but of comparatively little such variety of hue. It is not, 

 therefore, in the colouring that their attractions rest ; nor 

 is it in their endurance, for a large proportion of the native 

 species lose all their beauty as soon as the frost reaches 

 them, and for nearly one-half of the year are dormant un- 

 less artificially 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 gene- 

 rally pleasing, even to those who are slow to perceive beauty 

 apart from rich and gaudy colouring. 



The number of the native species of Ferns may be taken 



