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are still practised on Midsummer eve; but I am not aware that the superstition of the fern-seed ever had a place in that country. I believe it is common in some parts of England, where

The village maids mysterious tales relate

Of bright midsummer's sleepless nights; the fern
That time sheds secret seeds; and they prepare
Untold-of rites, predictive of their fate:
Virgins in silent expectation watch

Exact at twelve's propitious hour to view
The future lover o'er the threshold pass.

*

I have already, when mentioning Hypericum, in the Polyadelphia class, adverted to the superstitions of St. John's day in Saxony. In some parts of Spain they are not less interesting. In the seventh volume of Blackwood's Magazine is a version of the ballad," which has been for many centuries sung by the maidens on the banks of the Guadalquiver when they go forth to gather flowers on the morning" of that day. A wether is enclosed in a hut of heath, and if it remain quiet while the girl sings, all is right; but should it grow restless and break through the door or wall of that frail habitation, she will then be forsaken by her lover. This beautiful song is as follows;

Come forth, come forth, my maidens, 'tis the day of good St.
John,

It is the Baptist's morning that breaks the hills upon,
And let us all go forth together, while the blessed day is new,
To dress with flowers the snow-white wether, ere the sun has
dried the dew.

* Bidlake.

Come forth, come forth, my maidens, the hedgerows all are

green,

And the little birds are singing the opening leaves between,
And let us all go forth together, to gather trefoil by the stream,
Ere the face of Guadalquiver glows beneath the strengthening
beam.

Come forth, come forth, my maidens, and slumber not away
The blessed, blessed morning of John the Baptist's day;
There's trefoil on the meadow, and lilies on the lea,
And hawthorn blossoms on the bush, which you must pluck
with me.

Come forth, come forth, my maidens, the air is calm and cool,
And the violet blue, far down you'll view, reflected in the pool;
The violets and the roses, and the jasmines all together,
We'll bind in garlands on the brow of the strong and lovely
wether.

Come forth,come forth, my maidens, we'll gather myrtle boughs, And we all shall learn from the dews of the fern, if our lads will keep their vows.

If the wether be still, as we dance on the hill, and the dew hangs sweet on the flowers,

Then we'll kiss off the dew, for our lovers are true, and the Baptist's blessing is ours.

Come forth, come forth, my maidens, 'tis the day of good St. John,

It is the Baptist's morning that breaks the hills upon,

And let us all go forth together, while the blessed day is new, To dress with flowers the snow-white wether, ere the sun has dried the dew,

We often find, that parts attached to seeds, or their capsules, have a hygrometrical property, which is of service in their dissemination. Hence the animated oat is so named, because when its arista, or awn, is slightly moistened, it makes, by its contortions, the whole seed move about like an animal. A more remarkable example occurs in the Equise

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tum, or horse-tail fern, each seed of which has four (sometimes three or five) pellucid threads, clavate or club-shaped at their extremities, proceeding from it. These curl and twist about in a very curious manner, and move the seed along with them in various directions. If a spike of the Equisetum, when ripe in spring, be shaken over a piece of white paper, the seeds will fall out in form of a fine brown powder; and if they be damped a little by gently breathing on them, and be then examined with a magnifier, they will be seen crawling about on the paper, like so many little spiders.

The economical uses of the ferns are neither extensive nor important. The root of the common brake (Pteris aquilina) is, indeed, when ground to powder, and mixed with a little barley-meal, used as food by the people of Palma and Gomera; but this, as Humboldt justly observes, is only a proof of the extreme penury of the lower classes in the Canary islands. The brake, or bracken, and some other species, afford a considerable quantity of alkali by burning, and in some places their ashes are made into balls, and used as a substitute for soap. They are sold by the name of ash-balls. The common brake is used also for heating ovens and limekilns, and the heat it produces is said to be intense. It is also employed as horse-litter, and for thatching; which purposes it fulfils extremely well. The rough horse-tail fern (Equisetum hyemale) has, for a long period, been imported from Holland under the

name of Dutch rushes. It is used by cabinet-makers and other artists for polishing wood, &c.; its surface being hard and rough, from an impregnation of siliceous earth.

Fig. 82. exhibits the beautiful Tunbridge fern, or goldilocks (Trichomanes Tunbridgense), of its natural size.

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When you examine a moss in fructification, you may remark a number of urn or vase shaped bodies standing on peduncles which arise from among the green foliage. These vase-like bodies are the fruit, and all mosses produce their seeds in capsules of this description. In many species you will also observe that the peduncle supporting the capsule is surrounded at its base by a sheath of scaly leaves. This, before the peduncle grew up, served as a kind of calyx to protect the embryo fruit, and is named the perichatium or sheath.

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Fig. 83. (a) capsule; (b) pedicle; (c) sheath. But, before the capsule is ripe and has burst, there are two other parts connected with it, the Opercu lum or lid which closes its mouth, and the Calyptra or veil, which covers both lid and capsule over like a conical roof: (d) operculum; (e) calyptra. When the capsule is so ripe that these latter parts have been cast off, its mouth will, with a few exceptions, be seen surrounded by a row of teeth, and often, in addition to this, an internal jagged or lacerated membrane. This ring or edge of the mouth of the capsule is named the Fringe or Peristome, Peristomium. (ƒ)

The mosses are almost all dioecious, and the staminiferous stems have a rosaceous or star-like appearance at the top (g). Their foliage is extremely beautiful, and forms a lovely object in the microscope. The leaves are never petiolated, often they are serrated, and often ribbed, but never divided nor branched. They are always very thin, pellucid,

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