77 
that formerly it was in use in England for the same 
purpose, for by a statute for regulating the price of labour 
in England, dated 1349, being the twenty-third year of 
Edward III, we find it enacted that every tyler or coverer 
with straw or fern shall receive 3d. per day, and their 
servants or knaves 2d., and their boys l^d. per day.” It 
is also said that a decoction of the ashes of this and some 
other Eerns stimulates the growth of hair, and hence they 
have been called capillary plants. This plant is not unknown 
to the Scottish poet, 
“ Far dearer to me yon lone glen o’green Breckan, 
Wf tke burn stealing under the lang yellow broom.” 
As in some places the plant attains a considerable height, 
it offers a bracken curtain to the deer for his evening couch, 
and has concealed many an armed Highlander in days of old. 
Sir Walter Scott, in his “ Lady of the Lake,” describes 
Eoderic Dhu’s men, as springing from the bracken at the 
sound of the whistle of their chieftain. 
“ On right, on left, above, below, 
Sprang up at once the lurking foe, 
From shingles grey their lances start. 
The bracken bush sends forth the dart.” 
Scott’s Lady of the LaJce , — Canto V. 
This is the Female Eern (^OrjXvTrrcpcq^ of Theophrastus and 
Dioscorides. It had this appellation because it was con- 
sidered so injurious to the female sex, that, if they walked on 
it,* much more if they took it inwardly, it would be attended 
with very bad effects. Linnseus first transferred the name 
to another species. Eteris Aquilina is the designation now 
adopted by all modern writers except Hewman, who calls it 
Eupteris Aquilina. 
A description has now been given of twenty-one species 
of Eerns, all Eerns of the Axe. In the subsequent article 
an attempt will be made to point out many leading varieties 
of these interesting plants. An ancient Eoman poet has 
said, 
“ Neglectis urenda filix innascifcur agris. — Horace.” 
The fern grows to be burnt in neglected fields. 
