30 HANDY 1300K OF 
seeks for them in woods and bank-sides, may often discover 
roimd hairy-looking halls, of a rich brown colour, emerging 
from among the grass and mosses. Such halls contain some 
infant fern, carefully folded up, hut soon to yield to the 
joint ministry of showers and sunheams, and to stand forth 
in its singleness and heauty. 
Oak-fern grows generally in wild and mountainous dis- 
tricts, and, although one of the most elegant and attractive 
of our native species, seems instinctively to avoid the abodes 
of men, and fixes itself in places overhung with rocks or 
thick foliage. The roots are black and fibrous, and the 
young fronds make their appearance in March and April ; 
they each resemble three small balls upheld on wires, which 
gradually unfold, and display a triple division ; the fronds 
arrive at maturity early in the summer, and entirely dis- 
appear before the storms of winter. 
This species, the Polypodium dryopteris of botanists, de- 
rives its specific name from being occasionally found among 
the mossy roots of aged oaks. Its localities are often asso- 
ciated with local scenery and time-haunted ruins, with the 
remembrance of Druidic observances and r tes, and places 
renowned in history. Dry, stony heaths in Yorkshire, 
Lancashire, "Westmoreland, and Scotland, are some of its 
favourite resorts, though growing in great luxuriance 
beside the fall of Lodore, on the side of Derwentwater, in 
Cumberland. "We have gathered it occasionally in Glouces- 
tershire, in a wood north-east of the road up Frocester 
Hill, and on a rocky lane-bank leading to the romantic 
village of Shepseombe, near Painswick, towards the Chel- 
tenham road. 
The unfolding of this graceful species is ever welcome. 
Its emerging from the earth uniformly indicates the passing 
by of winter storms, and is accompanied by the lesser celan- 
dine, with its glossy yellow cups the speedwell, and haw- 
thorn, and those two most fragrant ilowers, the violet and 
