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CLASSIFICATION OF FERNS. 
In order that the student may have an idea of the 
general structure of the class of plants known as Ferns 
or Filices, we present an analysis of the characters 
of the orders and genera into which they are divided 
by botanists. It must always be remembered,, that 
the species of British ferns are only a small part of 
the great family of ferns which are scattered in space 
over the surface of the earth, and in tune in the rocks 
of which the earth is composed. Geology reveals to 
us that coal—that source of our domestic comfort and 
national greatness—is formed chiefly of ferns which at 
some remote period grew upon the earth; and fossil 
remains show that contemporaneously with ferns, 
grew plants of remarkable character, quite different 
from those of the present era. Not so with ferns, for 
their beautiful and well-preserved remains indicate 
species almost identical with many now living and 
growing amongst us here and in far-off portions of 
the world. No arrangement of fragmentary groups, 
such as the British ferns, can give the student an idea 
of the grandeur, beauty, and harmony of the whole. 
