BABIES. 27 
opened my store triumphantly. " Look here," 
I said, "is not this a wonderful find?" and I 
displayed a graceful little Fern. " This is the 
Woodsia ilvensis ! " 
I saw a twinkle in the " Fern-man's " eye ; hut 
he told me gravely my specimen was only a haby 
" Filix-foemina ; " and then he added, how trouble- 
some baby Ferns always were, and that one could 
not easily decide on a Fern unless there was 
fructification. I might hunt for varieties of 
Filix-mas and foemina, but he thought I should 
find nothing else. Then he discoursed of Ferns in 
general and of Fern-hunters, how he found ladies 
looking for Septentrionale in a wood, for Ceterach 
in a ditch, and for Asplenium viride on a wall. 
I do," said I. 
"It is a pity to w^aste time," he answered. 
" Find out the whereabouts before you search. 
Know what you are likely to find, and then take 
anything strange you meet with." And so it 
came to pass, I only brought away from Inversnaid 
a few young plants of Oreopteris and a Lyco- 
