FERNS AND MOSSES. 81 
Turk Lake, Killarney. The same naturalist gathered speci- 
mens of great beauty to the left of the site whence tourists 
obtain the first view of the fall. He tells us, that about fif- 
teen yards higher up the stream, a rocky bank projects into 
the river, which can only be approached by leaping from 
stone to stone, amid the racing torrent and deafening roar 
BRISTLE-FERN. 
and spray of the descending waters. Friendly roots and 
branches aided the adventurous botanist in climbing up to 
the wild growing place of the beauteous Trichomanes, who 
dwelt securely on a rocky bank, her dark green fronds 
dripping and begemmed with sparkling drops, shining and 
glittering in the sunbeams. Thus cherished, amid rocks 
and waterfalls, grows the fern of which we speak, sought for 
in vain amid green fields and on village commons, where 
the eye-bright and the cistus, the twayblade and bee-flower, 
open to the purest air of heaven. 
The roots of this rare plant, equally with its rhizoma, bear 
a considerable resemblance to those of the Polypodium vul- 
gare, or common Polypody. The latter is black, velvety, 
a 
