i6 Our Native Ferns. 



tion. The text-book is only useful in giving directions how to 

 investigate. To understand thoroughly an animal we must study 

 its habits in its native haunts. To know its structure and position 

 in the animal kingdom we must carefully dissect a large number 

 of specimens and study the development of the individual from 

 its beginning. In like manner, to understand fully a fern we must 

 search where nature has planted it, watch it as it uncoils from 

 the bud, matures, produces its fruit, and finally returns to the 

 earth ; examine it with needles and lenses and discover its minute 

 structure and its life-history. These pages which aim to give an 

 outline of the forms of fern growth, the methods of fruiting, the 

 germination or growth from the spore, and finally the more 

 minute structure of the entire plant, can only be thoroughly un- 

 derstood by taking the ferns in hand and studying them in connec- 

 tion with the text. For the first three chapters and the determina- 

 tion of species a strong pocket lens and a few needles mounted 

 in handles for dissection will furnish the necessary outfit. Chapters 

 IV. and V. will require a compound microscope with its appliances 

 for successful investigation. 



Let no one imagine that the task will be an easy one. Patient 

 application and careful observation are essential to success, yet 

 he who becomes once interested in the work will find a subject 

 that deepens in interest with every step and even becomes en- 

 chanting as he seeks to determine the mysterious processes of 

 fern development and the marvels of fern structure. 



