RAMBLES IN SEARCH OF FERNS. 
21 
CHAPTER III. 
“ The stately fern, the golden broom, 
The lily tall and fair, — 
All these in rich succession bloom. 
And scent the summer air ; 
In secret dell, by murmuring rill, 
In gardens bright and gay, 
Within the valley, on the hill, 
They cheer our toilsome way!'' — I limok. 
“No; you shall haunt that wood no longer,” exclaimed Esther, as, 
having crossed the foot-bridge over the brook, I turned to take the 
path to the right which led directly along the little wooded dell. “ I 
am going to take you on to the hills to-day, that you may experience 
the invigorating influence of the moor air.” 
I sighed heavily. Going regularly on with my dear fern book, I 
had come to a group of ferns called Lastrsea, or Shield ferns, and 
characterised by having a kidney-shaped cover over their seed masses. 
I remembered the elegant ferns that waved over the fossil rocks, and I 
knew that they had covers of this shape. But Esther was bent on my 
going to the moor ! 
A noble crown of graceful fern was growing beside the ascending 
path ; and I observed it just as I had groaned over my small disap- 
pointment. I gathered a frond. Instead of it being triangular in 
form, like those I was longing for in the wood, it resembled rather the 
Prickly ferns ; but it was broader than they in the middle, and more 
upright in its growth. Plentiful seed masses were sprinkled over the 
backs of the slightly notched leaflets, and upon using my lens I found 
that the covers were kidney-shaped. This, then, must be what is 
commonly called the Male fern ( Lastrsea Jilix-mas , Plate, III., Figs. 1 and 
