( m ) 
us from relying upon authority, be it ever: 
fo refpectable. There is one circumftance 
attending this polypodium which does not 
run through the whole genus, that is, the 
want of the membrane, which, in the reft 
of the family, is found enclofing the cap- 
fules : of this, however, it may not be defti- 
tute, but it may have efcaped notice from 
early falling off, when the capfules are ar- 
rived at a certain degree of maturity. This 
tribe of plants not having been much attended 
to leaves to modern botanifts an ample field 
of difcovery ; and the whole clafs Cryptogamia 
is now become fo much an object of inquiry 
to perfons of the firft ability in the fcience, 
that a few years will probably elucidate that 
obfcurity which has hitherto rendered it a 
difgrace to Botany. 
Having obtained a tolerably clear idea of 
the fructification of ferns, practice and atten- 
tion can alone render the pupil familiar with 
the different genera; an undertaking in which 
he will find much difficulty. So great a fimi- 
larity runs through the fructifications of them 
all, that the diftinction cannot be founded on 
that part of the plant. The various modes, 
in which the capfules are placed on the frond, 
3 or 
