PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
THEN years have now elapsed since the publication 
of “Ferns: British and Foreign , ” of which the 
following pages are a corrected reprint. Since then, 
a number of exotic species have been introduced, 
making considerable additions to the cultivated col- 
lections in this country, of which the names of many 
have from time to time been noticed in the Horti- 
cultural Journals and in Nurserymen’s Catalogues. 
These I have collected and arranged under their 
respective genera and tribes, so as to form an 
Appendix to the present edition. I, however, deem 
it necessary to state, that shortly after the publication 
of the first edition in 1866, my sight entirely failed, 
and consequently 1 have not been, able to follow up 
my rule, which was, not to enter a species on the 
list of living plants without first having seen it 
growing, or had specimens sent me taken from plants 
cultivated in this country. It being impossible for 
me now to do so, I have consequently availed myself 
of the great knowledge of Ferns possessed by Mr. 
William Gower, formerly foreman of the Fern collec- 
tion at Kew, whose name is already noticed in the 
