5 . 
THE ROYAL FERN. 
0*munda regalis. 
Plate 4 , Fig. 1 , Page 207 . 
Amongst the most moisture -loving of our native species is 
this noble Fern. It loves excessive moisture for its roots, 
growing indeed in greatest perfection in hog soil. It is 
especially fond of inhabiting the sheltered banks of streams ; 
and at the lakes of Killarney it attains the grandest form 
which it has ever been known to assume in these Islands. 
In small lake islands it sometimes takes entire possession of 
the ground; and a legend has been handed down from the 
time of the Danish invasions of Britain, explanatory of the 
generic name of Osmunda — an island, covered with large 
specimens of this Fern, figuring prominently in the story. 
Osmund, the ferryman of Loch Tyne, had a beautiful child, 
who was the pride of Ids life and the joy of his heart. In 
those days, when the merciless Danes were making their 
terrible descents upon our coasts, slaughtering the peaceful 
inhabitants and pillaging wherever they went, no man could 
say how long he would be free from molestation and outrage. 
But Osmund, throughout the troublous times, had lived 
peacefully with his wife and beautiful daughter. The 
peaceful calm of his life was, however, destined to be broken. 
One evening the ferryman was sitting, with his wife and 
child, on the margin of the lake, after his day’s work. The 
setting sun was tinging with roseate glory the fleecy banks 
