INTRODUCTION. 
No Natural Order of plants attracts more attention than 
the Ferns, and that attention is attracted by their elegance, 
the freshness of their verdure, the peculiarity of their 
structure, and the ease with which most of them are cul¬ 
tivated. To assist the searcher after, and the cultivator of 
these plants, and to afford him a guide as free as possible 
from the jargon of botanical language, were the leading 
considerations in preparing these pages. 
The engravings, for the most part, will enable any one, 
without other assistance, to ascertain the name of any 
species he may possess, or, if he knows its name, the al¬ 
phabetical order of the work and the index will enable him 
to refer readily to full particulars concerning its history, 
description, and cultivation j but some readers may wish for 
a guide to the systematic arrangement of the British Ferns, 
and for their use we offer the following information. 
The Ferns ( Filicct ) are flowerless plants, with a root-stock 
spreading underground (rhizoma), from which arise, un¬ 
coiling usually in a spiral form ( circinnate ) the fronds or 
leafy stems; the under surface of the fronds is traversed 
