A POCKET GUIDE ΤΟ BRITISH FERNS. PREFATORY REMARKS. So much has already been written concerning the Ferns of Great Britain, that it may seem presumptuous on my part to add another book on the subject. In my own personal studies I have met with this difficulty, viz. to gather from the published volumes on Ferns what the decided special features, or characters are of each genus and species. For while writers mention many peculiarities in detail, some of greater and others of lesser importance, those alone which precisely mark the distinctions, whatever these may be, are either not sufficiently noted or so mingled with features of a general kind that the mind fails to grasp the essentials. I have found, moreover, mine to be no solitary case, for many persons have expressed to me their inability to overcome, or clearly appreciate, that something distinguishing one Fern, or genus of Ferns, from another. B |