154 
THE FERN WORLD 
grows deeper, and the moss thicker. But the shade is 
lightened here and there by the streaks of golden sun- 
light which find their way through tiny interstices in the 
interlaced foliage above. These streams of golden light 
glance on the tips of green— relieving by their bright 
effulgence the darker shades of other leaves— and sparkle 
on dew-drops, which glitter like molten silver. High up on 
the hedge-top, revelling iu the moist shade of screening 
shrubs, yet coquetting with the filtered sun-rays, are beau- 
tiful forms of the glossy Hartstongue and Poh/stichnm 
angulare. 
Presently we emerge from the most shady recess of this 
lane as the hedge-shrubs fling back for awhile their over- 
hanging branches and let in upon us blue skv, as well as 
more golden sunshine. Yet in the hedge-tops Ferns still 
revel in the depth of scarcely diminished shadow; but on 
the hedge-sides, now bathed in sunshine, other wild plants 
compete for room with moss and Ferns. 
We now take a turning round to the right as our path 
ascends, and as we turn the corner the hedge-top on one 
side is bared of sheltering shrubs, and we get a peep of sky 
and spotless blue, and of leafy tops of thickly-foliaged elms 
rising clear towards the blue sheen ; and just beneath, under 
the sheltering arms of two of these trees, we get a tiny 
peep of sloping meadow, and then a perspective of wooded 
upland. 
On still we follow the course of our lane, and as we turn 
the corner, passing under the spreading branches of an ivy- 
covered oalc, we once more come into shade. Again shelter- 
ing branches of hazel and hawthorn close over us, whilst the 
hedge-bank below is clothed with ivy, moss, and creeper, the 
thorny tendrils of the dog-rose, and the pale green leaves of 
primrose. Amongst the moss are tiny plantations of seed- 
ling Ferns, and lace-like tendrils drop down from the shrubs 
