Cryptogamia. ( 35 ) 
ENORMOUS POLYPODY. 
A Single Leaf makes but a fimple Appearance after the gorgeous Clutters 
and profufe Elegancies of Nature, reprefented juftly, if imperfectly, in 
the preceding Plates : But in the fern Kinds, to which this belongs, a 
Leaf is all. It is the whole Plant entire, and capable of Propagation j thefe 
bear no Stalk for Flowers, but the whole Herb is here. The golden Dots upon 
the pale Backs of the Leaves are Clutters of minute Flowers and their fucceeding 
Seeds. Thefe are fo fmall, and the Progrefs of Nature in performing the great 
Work of Impregnation, is fo hid from our Sight by the Minutenefs of the Or- 
gans, that the whole Clafs is thence nam’d Cryptogamia 5 thofe which impreg- 
nate in Obfcurity. It was proper to give- one Plant of this peculiar Clafs ; and 
Fortune could not have thrown in the Way a nobler : for what Beauty there 
can be in a Leaf this has j and there is alfo a Singularity about the Root, wor- 
thy particular Regard. Many of the Ferns, and even of this particular Poly- 
pody Kind, have Leaves more complex in their Form, and more divided; but < 
thofe who have ttudy’d the Art of Defign, will give the Prize of Elegance to 
this whofe Parts are all large, fuited to the enormous Whole. 
The antient Naturalitts have nam’d a Creature, call’d the Scythian Lamb, 
and told us idle Stories of its Life : nay, fome have brought the Body into 
England ; and we have feen the Folly and the Falfity of the Accounts by that 
unerring Evidence. This Lamb is the thick Root of a Fern, cover’d with a 
brown and downy Coat, and they cut off four of the Stalks at a due Heighth, 
which pafs upon the credulous for Legs. This Polypody will explain the Mi- 
racle; and as it is evidently a Native of China and the neighbouring Countries, 
tho’ we firtt had it only from South America ; it is not improbable the very 
bett of thofe imagin’d Creatures have been made from it. 
Near the decaying Stump of Ibme old Tree, where the Soil is mellowed by 
the fallen Leaves of many Seafons, rifes this fpecious Polypody. The thick Part 
of its Root creeps varioufly and wildly upon the Surface of the Ground, tho’ 
under Shelter partly of the Leaves : this is cover’d in a furprifing Manner with 
a brown filky Manner, and from this ftioot the Fibres. A fertile Imagination 
might find eafily the Forms of Bears and Bulls, as well as Lambs in it ; as 
Children fee fuch Figures in the Fire, or Attronomers in the Heavens. And as 
Stalks rife from thence in many Parts, Legs enough may be form’d at Pleafure. 
The Plant rifes to a Yard in Heighth or more ; and its long undulated and 
fair Divilions, are decorated on the Back with round Clutters of Seeds of a 
gold Yellows This is the Character of Polypodies among the Cryptagamous 
Clafs; therett having the Clutters in long Lines, or on the Edges of the Leaves, 
or covering their whole Surface. 
Nature feems to have confider’d a beautiful Out-line in the Formation of 
this Leaf in a peculiar Manner : not only the Divilions are elegant and plac’d 
elegantly, but their Proportion and Difpofition are vary’d to favour it. The 
lower Lobes are kept diftin^f, and the terminating Part is larger than the rett ; 
both thefe Particulars are Sources of Beauty. 
Polypodiuni frondibus pinnatifidis kvibus pinnis oblongis diftantibus infimis patulis, termlnali maxima. Linn. 
Golden Polypody. 
FINIS. 
