THE BUCKLER FERNS. 
249 
is something exceedingly delicate and fragile, and 
the colour is a most exquisite light shade of green. 
We shall not easily forget our first adventure in 
search of the Marsh Fern. We had arranged 
to meet Charles Hillman, already alluded to, at 
Newton Abbott, whence he was to pilot us to the 
Decoy Bog, in the vicinity of that town. Unfor- 
tunately when we arrived at the Newton Abbott 
station the rain began to pour down. But we had 
set our minds on Thelypteris , and, nothing daunted, 
we started for the Decoy Bog. The bog lies under 
a wood at the foot of a furze and Bracken-covered 
slope. Arrived at the top of the slope we had to 
wade through the tall and dripping Bracken breast 
high, pushing the ferns aside with one hand, and 
holding our umbrellas in the other. We soon 
reached the bog, but there our difficulties had only 
commenced. Interspersed throughout the extent 
of the bog, which lay under the shadow of the 
wood which covered it, were some moss-covered 
mounds, chiefly occurring at the roots or over the 
stumps of trees. It was necessary to step with the 
utmost caution from moss-covered mound to moss- 
