31 
ferns. At that remote period the world seems to 
have been a wilderness of ferns. It mattered not 
that they were not good for food, for as yet no 
herbiyerons animals had appeared upon the earth 
to eat them. Lying upon the coal measures are the 
Red Sandstone beds some 1,200 feet thick, all de- 
posited by the slow process of subsidence : above 
that the Lias 70 feet: the Oolites 1,500: Wealden 
beds 900 : the Green Sand 500 : the Chalk 900 ; 
and then we come to the earth in which are found 
the first and earliest remains of the large herbiver- 
ous animals : wherefore it is said— As quadrupeds 
which live on vegetables had not yet appeared on 
the earth, it was not necessary that the vegetation 
of that period should have been calculated for 
their food. 
Where round.— Up Stintway, in the ditch on 
the left-hand side. Stintway is the green lane run- 
ning from Lower Bickwell up the side of Peak Hill. 
On the east flank of Bulverton Hill, over the new 
Ottery road, at the bottom of the uncultivated part. 
In some other scattered localities by single plants, 
but in Harpford Wood, distant nearly three miles 
on the Exeter road, it is abundant, and easily found. 
Culture. — The Blechnum prefers a damp situ- 
ation, with plenty of shade, and will grow in peaty, 
gravelly, or clayey soil. A certain amount of peat, 
however, never seems to come amiss to the roots of 
ferns. Being a hardy plant, it succeeds better in 
the open air than in a close room or a greenhouse. 
As the barren fronds are evergreen they make a 
tidy appearance throughout the winter. 
