48 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
that at the darkest and densest part of the canopy 
slight openings afford a view of the sky, and 
whilst they admit the softened sun- rays, give 
the prospect of a beautiful wood-crowned hill, 
rising upwards beyond the delightful canopy, 
which hangs so gracefully over the clear and 
glancing waters of the brook. 
For some little distance the stream runs by the 
side of the road we are following, until when 
the latter takes a sudden turn to the right, it 
disappears under a stone bridge, re-appearing 
for a brief space and then being finally lost as it 
flows away across the meadows. Peer over the 
side of the bridge and you will find little tufts 
of that beautiful fern, the Common Maidenhair 
Spleenwort ; also the tiny Wall-rue, and small speci- 
mens of the Hartstongue. You will rarely find a 
Devonshire bridge, unless it be quite a new structure, 
without its complement of ferns — the rock, or stone- 
and-mortar-loving species. Whether it be a river 
bridge, or a tiny arch that crosses a brook, its sides 
are almost certain to possess at least one kind, often 
many, of the moisture-loving plants. No doubt it 
