PREFACE TO THE ILLUSTRATED (FOURTH ) EDITION. 
lias been entrusted, to state that it has been 
executed with the utmost faithfulness, and that 
the impressions he has produced are absolutely 
true to Nature. The grouping of the several 
species of British Ferns (in Plates 2 to 8 inclusive), 
according to their respective genera, enables the 
Reader at one glance to determine the differences 
between the various species belonging to each 
genus. 
As the Author pens these lines, concluding the 
labour of love involved in the revision and 
extension of the Fern papers in this volume, 
he is reminded, by the sounds and sights which 
indicate the joyousness of Nature, that the spirit 
of Spring is abroad, breathing its gentle influence 
on all things, both animate and inanimate. 
‘ The Spring is here— the delicate-footed May, 
With its slight fingers full of leaves and flowers ; 
And with it comes a thirst to be away, 
Wasting in woodpaths its voluptuous hours.’ 
*9 
