WAR OF EXTERMINATION. 77 
seemed ready to climb the side of a house if 
necessary ; but all the available tresses of Maiden- 
hair had been shorn away, and I returned with 
only a tinful of sea creatures to reward me for my 
pains. 
It seems cruelty so entirely to destroy the 
habitat of any Fern : yet, if the present rage 
continue, I see no hope of any known species 
being allowed to remain in its old haunts. The 
poor Ferns, like the wolves in olden time, have 
a price set upon their heads, and they in like 
manner will soon altogether disappear. We must 
have " Fern laws," and preserve them like game. 
In the neighbourhood of Ilfracombe I found a 
few Scolopendriums with the ends of the fronds 
cleft, but they were hardly worth bringing away. 
I also found Polystichum angulare growing in 
magnificent profusion ; P. aculeatum was com- 
paratively rare. 
Between Launceston and Holsworthy, I found 
the only Lastrea Foenisecii I have seen wild in 
Devonshire ; it was growing in an old hedge by 
