FERNY RAM RLE S IN SOUTH HE VON. 
had here, and the bridge parapet and sides are 
also ornamented by the fronds of the Common 
Polypody. 
And now, to return to Totnes through Dart- 
ington Wood, we must retrace our steps for about 
two hundred yards until we reach the edge of 
the wood. Here a gate admits us on to a steep 
ascent, at the top of which we enter a bridle-path 
which leads away round to the right, under the 
dark shadows of the trees. Presently we are 
fairly buried in the wood, tlie trees in which rise 
high on each side of our path and arch over us. 
From the left comes the roar of the unseen Dart, 
as it rushes by somewhere on the verge of the 
wood. Under the copse on the same side are 
some splendid Ferns: grand specimens of the 
Broad Buckler Fern and of the purple-stemmed 
Lady Fern; Male Ferns in abundance, many of 
them standing four feet high ; and numbers of the 
Hard Fern, finely developed. The luxuriance of 
the Ferns in this part of the wood is no matter 
for surprise ; for the ground consists of soft, 
spongy leaf-mould, a soil in which the Fern 
family greatly delight. 
107 
