6 
FERNS AND FERNERIES . 
the Hard Fern ( Blechnum spicant ), or the Hart’s Tongue 
Fern ( Scolopeiidrium vulgare) by their right names ; but 
as to the distinction between the Male Fern ( Lastrea 
filix-mas) and the Lady Fern (. Athyrium filix-foemina ), 
the Hard Fern ( Blechnum spicant) and the Common 
Polypody ( Polypodium vulgare ), they will be quite at 
fault, or make a vague guess at most, while the less 
frequent species are to them utterly nameless, useless, 
and unknown. 
Although the knowledge of names is comparatively 
a very poor acquisition of knowledge, still it is obvious 
that one of the first essential steps in acquiring specific 
information in regard to an object is clearly and truly 
to identify that object with its name. It will therefore 
be evident that though the ferns of Great Britain occupy 
only about one-fortieth part of the ferns already known, 
still they must have specific names, and be arranged in 
a practical connected series. The natural orders com¬ 
prising the British ferns are— Polypodiacece , where the 
capsules ( sporangia ) are seated on the dorsal, or the 
marginal part of the frond (figs. I, 2); Osmundacece , 
where the capsules are clustered on the margin of a 
