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morning. The day was spent in exploring the lanes 

 and woods on foot, and the car returned again in the 

 evening to carry us back home. In this way the best 

 parts of a district some fifty miles in diameter can be 

 explored in a week or a fortnight according to the rich- 

 ness or otherwise of the neighbourhood. This method 

 of fern hunting has been enjoyed by our members on 

 several of our annual excursions, and has resulted in 

 some good finds being made. When, for any reason, 

 the motor-car is not available as is now generally the 

 case during war-time, the humbler bicycle makes a very 

 fair substitute, and has the additional advantage that 

 good things can sometimes be "spotted" by the road- 

 side while one is actually riding. I know of several 

 finds which have been made by a member while travel- 

 ling about his business on a bicycle. In the summer 

 of 1916 I spent a week at the seaside in Dorsetshire 

 with some members of my family, and, by means of a 

 bicycle, was able to explore the neighbourhood, for many 

 miles around, for ferns. Starting out in the morning, 

 in any likely direction, one rode on until a suitable lane 

 or wood was observed ; the bicycle was then put behind 

 a hedge or leaned against a gate (the people are mostly 

 honest in Wessex), and comfortable and leisurely hunt- 

 ing was pursued on foot until the locality was exhausted, 

 when again a short ride would enable one to reach 

 another promising habitat, and so on until evening fell. 

 In this way one reached one's quarters in the evening 

 healthily tired but not over-fatigued, and with an 

 excellent appetite for dinner. Should bad weather befall 

 during the day, as will sometimes happen, one has only 

 to mount the bicycle and " scoot " for home, shelter, 

 and dry clothes. In the old days before the coming of 

 the motor-car, when the Society's annual meeting yielded 

 only one day of fern hunting, a horsed vehicle was 



