144 
THE MAIDENHAIR. 
ADIANTUM CAPILLUS VENERIS. 
“ Thy place is not where art exults to raise the tended flower, 
By terraced walk or deck’d parterre, or fenced or shelter’d bow’r; 
Nor where the straightly-levell’d walls of tangled boughs between 
The sunbeam sweeps the velvet sward and streams through alleys green.” 
The study of plants of the cryptogamic class, besides 
the comparative novelty of the pursuit, and the admir¬ 
ation it excites from the beauty and wisdom displayed in 
those minor productions of nature comprehended in this 
tribe of vegetables, has also another pleasure connected 
with it. “ It leads the botanist,” says an interesting 
writer, “ more frequently into wild and secluded scenes ; 
it draws him from the parterre and the field, to converse 
with nature in her native garb, on heath and mountain, 
by untrodden streams and lakes, and along the sands and 
shores of the ocean.” Ferns rank amongst the most 
beautiful and elegant productions of this class, and con¬ 
stitute a very comprehensive genus. The number of 
Ferns at present discovered amounts to between six and 
