FERNS. 51 



this in Druidic times, when those who dealt in augury 

 shunned the light of day, and, presiding either in caves or 

 woods, performed each mystic rite beneath the beams of the 

 planet they adored. 



Emulating our stately brother, the royal moonwort or 

 great Osmund, we carry our seeds on spikes, and are, in 

 consequence, easily distinguished. With our brethren, on 

 the contrary, the case is otherwise. Hence, ancient na- 

 turalists, looking cursorily on our tribe, and finding neither 

 flowers nor yet seeds, conjectured that both were wanting. 

 Their minds, prone to superstition, fancied that this obvious 

 and natural peculiarity indicated some hidden mystery, and 

 being unable to comprehend from whence proceeded the 

 numerous scions that sprang around a parent stem, con- 

 jectured that, as the seeds were invisible, ferns possessed 

 the power of rendering invisible whoever gathered them 

 during the silence of the night. Youths and maidens, 

 therefore, often sought for them, when dew lay heavy on 

 the grass, and the pale moon looked from her station in 



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