81 
is, undoubtedly, a greater likelihood of meeting with aber- 
rations from nature’s usual routine in some places than in 
others. 
One further remark must be made. Let not the student 
of nature’s works be perplexed, because he finds it more 
difficult to discover these deviations from the ordinary form 
than to ascertain the species. It is the very essence and 
character of such, that there should be a gradual approxi- 
mation to the original standard. The matter in fact is like 
the shifting sand of the ocean. Some Ferns will appear to 
come nearer to the typical plant, and others to the variety. 
There are intermediate steps to prove the beautiful gradation 
in God’s works. There may be a great difficulty in coming 
to a decision, and, after all, we must be satisfied, whether we 
study the animal or vegetable tribes, if we have something 
like the features and outlines furnished by the most approved 
authors, and in accordance with common sense. 
In bringing to a close our remarks on the Ferns and their 
varieties found in the parishes through which the Axe and 
its tributaries flow, and also in the parishes of Charmoutb, 
Lyme, Uplyme, and Monkton Wylde, we crave the indul- 
gence of our readers, while we make another attempt to 
facilitate the discovery of the difierent plants. Let it again 
be observed, that all our Ferns except the Adder’ s-tongue 
and Moonwort are circinate in their vegetation, i. e, before 
the fronds are expanded, the buds are coiled together in a 
circular manner. Any one who casts his eyes on our vari- 
ous hedgebanks in the spring, cannot fail to notice how 
difierently the Ferns seem to come into leaf from any other 
plant. The Ferns have the seed vessels on the back of the 
frond, except the Flowering Ferns, which are the Adder’ s- 
tongue, the Moonwort, and the Eoyal Fern, Osmunda 
Eegalis, and all except these have, as is seen under a 
microscope, their bags of spores or seed surrounded by an 
elastic ring. If, therefore, the Fern is not circinate in its 
vegetation, nor has the fruit on the back of the frond, nor 
its bags of spores surrounded by an elastic ring, we may 
rest assured that it is the Adder’s tongue or Moonwort. 
G 
