CHAPTER VII 

 FERN-SEED 



FIG. 6. Under-surface of the frond of the common Polypody fern, 

 showing the circular spore-cases arranged in rows. 



" \ T TE have the receipt of fern-seed; we walk invisible," 

 VV says one of Prince Hal's rollicking companions 

 in Shakespeare's play of " Henry IV." Ben Jonson, in the 

 'New Inn,' makes one of his characters say, "I had no 

 medicine, sir, to go invisible, no fern-seed in my pocket." 

 About the same time (1613) we read in a romantic poem 



