66 HAEDY EEENS. 
is not that Botrychium gives you back black looks 
for your care : on the contrary, it repays you with 
an appearance of the most felicitous enjoyment. 
It seems to revel in the change of air ; its round 
little pinnae look fatter ; its tiny spike of fruit 
looks richer. You flatter yourself that at last you 
have your friend safe ; but lo ! in the spring when 
you look for him he is gone — utterly gone. 
Botrychium can hardly be called a rare Fern, for it 
has a very wide distribution ; but its minute size 
and pecuHar habit render it difficult to find. Its 
bright gi-een fronds are the colom- of the rich 
meadow land in which in Shropshire, Hereford- 
shire, and other counties it is to be found. In any 
situation it requires a keen eye to hunt it out. 
One of its lovehest haunts is on Haldon Hill in 
Devonshire, where, in the months of May and 
June, it grows freely on the richer portions of the 
soil. 
When it opens its dewy eyes in the early morning 
of spring, what a panorama of beauty and glory 
dazzles them! Hills, bright with the green of 
