P R E P A C E .
It has been presumed that we have been labouring for
beginners in the study of Ferns, and especially for the
young. Hence our aim has been to familiarize the subject
as far as possible, without sacrificing that integrity
of detail which may render these pages acceptable even to
those who have made some progress in the study; and with
this end in view, we have avoided all unnecessary technicalities,
and confined ourselves rather to plain, and, as we
hope, easily understood descriptions of the plants. Those
dubious and debateable matters, which, perhaps, have the
most interest to the advanced student, have been for the
