WAYSIDE WEEDS. 



193 



manner, in some cases, as in the common bracken, 

 looking more like a brown caterpillar than an 

 embryo plant ; and not only is it the mass of 

 the frond which is thus curled upon itself, but 

 every minute division of the many-cut leaf is like- 

 wise curled, so that there is curl within curl, and, if 

 you will look for them in the month of May, you 

 will find the fern fronds in every stage of uncurling. 



Fig. 113. 



-Fortiou of firond of Hart'S'tongae Fern, showing oblong 

 Bori, or spore collections. 



commencing like a caterpillar, shooting up into the 

 likeness of a pastoral staff, and finally imparting 

 the ftiU form of its leaf-beauty. And how full abd 

 beautiful are the coronas of the male fern, which 

 E^hnost seem to attempt the tree forms of more 



