AND MOSSES. 3o 
ning mostly in a horizontal direction, though occasionally 
perpendicular. The historian of British Ferns, who watched 
with great interest the progress of the London and Croydon 
railway, found in the New Cross cutting, great abundance 
of rhizomata in a decayed condition, some of which had 
penetrated to a perpendicular depth of fifteen feet. And 
wherever this fern has grown unmolested for a long series 
of years, the soil becomes filled with a seeming network 
formed by them. 
Seeds of the common Brake, equally with those of ferns 
in general, afford interesting objects for the microscope. The 
capsules in which they are contained, though appearing 
merely as dots or lines on the under- surf ace of the leaves, 
are either sitting or sessile, or else elevated on little foot- 
stalks, surrounded by an elastic or jointed ring, opening 
transversely when ripe, and dicharging the seeds not merely 
causing them to fall upon the earth, but, by aid of the sud- 
den jerk of the springing cord, flinging them to a consider- 
able distance. During the months of September and October 
this curious mechanism effects its destined purpose, and sows 
a crop for the ensuing year. 
PERN B.OOT. 
Many a schoolboy has wandered on a summer holiday 
from wood-side to sunny common, pleasing himself and his 
companions, as he passed along, with pulling up the finest 
Brakes and cutting their roots obliquely : wherefore ? Be- 
cause the roots, when cut, present a natural hieroglyphic, 
beautifully delineated, and representing either an oak tret 
or spread eagle. Some cavalier, it may be following the 
fortunes of Prince Charles through glen and glade where 
grew the Brake-fern in its wildest luxuriance, gave to this 
