no PERNS OP GREAT BRITAIN. 



Killarney, made greener by trickling waters, that a 

 friend, who termed the nook the " Birth-place of the 

 ferns," and saw its matted fronds drooping among rocks, 

 wrote for onr volume the following lines : — 



Beside a waterfall, where silvery mist, 

 Even in summer, makes the noontide dim. 

 Where clear brown shallow waters curl and twist 

 Round moss-grown rocks tree-clasped by rootlets slim. 

 Seated on stones that cumber sore the stream. 

 Listening the tiny torrent's whirl and dash, 

 I love to dream a wildering noon-tide dream. 

 Bright, swift, and changeful as the waters' flash. 



Mark ye the ferns that clothe these dripping rocks. 



The crosier-headed ferns, most fresh and rare ; 



Their hair-like stalks, though trembling 'neath the shocks 



Of falling spray-drops, rooted firmly there. 



What quaint varieties ! the leaflets glow 



With a metallic lustre all their own, 



And velvet mosses, fostered by the flow. 



Gain a luxuriance elsewhere all unknown. 



Through the light quivering beech-trees, sunshine falls 

 Filtering athwart the beauty of the glen ; 

 And to his mate the twittering wood-bird calls 

 With a sweet startled note — then hush'd again : — 

 We from our perilous stand launch boldly forth 

 Ventures of rose-leaves on the streamlet's breast. 

 We block each tiny rapid's foaming wrath, 

 Making new waterfalls at our behest. 



It was owing to the occasional dryness of the atmo- 

 sphere, that, until the introduction of Mr. Ward's closed 

 cases, this fern withstood all attempts of the cultivator 

 to rear it. If we take up any work on ferns, written a 

 few years since, we find the author commenting on the 

 absolute impossibility of domesticating the Bristle Tern, 



