PREFACE 
B 
0 those fond of nature, and desirous of intimate acquaint- 
ance with a part of her manifold works, the study of 
Ferns commends itself in an alluring way. The variety in 
form and beauty of the living plants invite the attention, whilst 
their scarcely less attractive appearance when preserved render a 
collection of the species of any locality an object of interest. 
The cultivation of our native ferns is an added attraction, 
many of them thriving under ordinary conditions of soil, shade 
and moisture, whilst most of the others can be grown with a little 
attention to soil and drainage A few do best in Wardian cases. 
The Ferns and Fern Allies, Vascular Cryptogams, Vascular Acro- 
gens, or Pteridophyta, as they are variously termed, comprise in 
New England eighty-two species, distributed as follows : Filices, 
45 ; Ophioglossacem, 7 ; Equisetacem, 8 ; Lycopodiaceee, 9 ; Selaginel- 
laceae, 3 ; Marsiliacem, 1 ; Salviniacem, 1 ; Isoetacem, 8 If with 
these are included their well marked varieties, the total number 
would be about one hundred. 
Many of these species are peculiar to certain districts. 8omo 
are found in New England only on the mountains and higher land 
of our northern sections ; two at least. Woodsia alpina and A&pleni- 
um viride, having been noticed only in Vermont, whilst two others, 
Asplenium montanum and Aspleninm ebenoides are lot known within 
our limits excepting from Connecticut. The calcareous district west 
of the Connecticut river is the home of several species rarely found 
on its eastern side, and several others are nearly confined to the 
vicinity of the Atlantic seaboard. In like manner Marsilea quadri- 
folia is native only to a lake near Litchfield, Conn., and Isoetes 
Tuckermani has scarcely been found but in ponds in the vicinity of 
Boston. 
