PREFACE. 
The Author of this Handbook is anxious to acknowledge the great 
help that he has received from his numerous fern friends. More 
especially are these thanks due to Dr. F. W. Stansfield, of Sale, 
without whose valuable assistance and suggestions (notably as 
regards classification) it would have been impossible to have 
written this work in six weeks. The book was required at a short 
notice, and therefore it is hoped that any imperfections will be 
dealt with mercifully. 
To Dr. Maxwell Masters, Mr. E. F. Fox, Mr. W. H. Phillips, 
Mr. J. H. Fitt, Mr. W. Barnard- Hankey, Mr. R. Thompson, Mr. 
J. M. Barnes (now deceased), Mrs. Grant, Mrs. Barnes, Colonel 
Randall, Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Curre, Mr. Elworthy (son of the late Mr. 
C. Elworthy), Messrs. Birkenhead, Messrs. Backhouse, Mr. H. S. 
Perry, Mrs. J. K. Hodgson, Miss Jones, Mrs. Bagnall Oakeley, 
Mr. J. Garnett, Mr. R. LI. Praeger, Mr. Martin-Atkins, Mr. P. B. 
O’Kellv, Mr. C. T. Druery, Major Cowburn, Mr. Stabler, Mr. W. 
G. Baker (Botanic Gardens, Oxford), Mr. J. W. Morris, and others, 
his thanks arc also specially due, for plants, fronds, and various 
information. 
The Author has received great help from the invaluable “Nature 
Printed Impressions of British Ferns,” by the late Colonel A. M. 
Jones, and from an examination of his dried fronds, and his 
valuable collection of historical ferns now growing in the Clifton 
Zoological Gardens (under the superintendence of the Author), 
containing divisions of the principal original wild finds of various 
collectors, as well as those raised by Colonel Jones and others. 
Further sources of information have been “Choice British Ferns,'’ 
by Mr. C. T. Druery ; “Ferns of the English Lake Country,” by 
Mr. J. M. Barnes ; “The Ferns of Ulster,” by Mr. W. H. Phillips 
and Mr. R. LI. Praeger ; “ Select Lists of British Ferns,” by 
Messrs. F. W. and H. Stansfield ; “European Ferns,” by Mr. J. 
Britten; “Geographical Handbook of Ferns,” by Mrs. Lycll; and 
“ Historical Notes of Ferns,” MSS. by Mr. E. F. Fox. 
To these must be added the Author’s acquaintance with the 
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