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 T 7" E have the receipt of fern-seed ; we walk invisible," 

 V V 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 



