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THE BRITISH FERNS. 



" Sweet to muse upon His skill display'd 

 (Infinite skill) in all that He has made ! 

 To trace in Nature's most minute design 

 The signature and stamp of power Divine ; 

 Contrivance intricate, express'd with ease, 

 Where uninstructed sight no beauty sees ! " 



Genus XII. ADIANTUM,* Linnaus. 



THE Adiantum, or Maiden-hair, may be known among the 

 British Ferns by its almost fan-shaped leaflets or pinnules, 

 which are attached by their narrow end, to the little black 

 hair-like stalks. This, however, though sufficient by which 

 to recognize it, among the very limited number of kinds 

 which are found in a wild state in Britain, is not its proper 

 distinctive mark. The real characteristics lie in the veins 

 and in the sori : the former may be readily seen by holding 

 a pinnule between the eye and a strong light, and the latter 

 by lifting up the little reflexed lobes which occur here and 



* The Genera are arranged for facility of reference in alphabetical order. 

 Their place in the systematic arrangement is denoted by their No., which 

 agrees with the preceding Table. 



