The ferns of the temperate regions vary in height from two or three inches to several feet, but some of the tropical species merit their name of tree-ferns by their height of twenty to twenty-five feet, vying with some of the palms in size and beauty. The ferns are among the first families of the land. They came early, and came to stay. Their fossils, "footprints on the sands of time," are found in rocks from the Devonian Age downward. Coal shales abound with them, sometimes many species being represented on one slab, as perfect as on the day when they were imprisoned. If a living fern could speak, it could hardly tell a plainer tale than these mute relics.

With the naked eye, only the outer beauty of ferns may be seen. The round or elongated spots, brown or black, on the under surface of the frond often pass unobserved. These spots are called sori, and are made up of little cup-shaped bodies called theca. The thecæ are filled with spores, from which new plants are developed. All these parts are so minute, except the sori, as to be invisible without the microscope, or at least not to show their true form. But under the compound microscope a whole new world of wonders is laid open. I shall not soon forget the first time that I placed a piece of mature frond of Aspidium marginale on the stage of a compound microscope with a two-thirds.

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inch objective. The crowded elastic stems of the thecæ
I saw the
were springing back from their bent position, throwing a
shower of spores across the field of vision.
sower sowing the seed with very liberal hand, as Nature
always does. About thirty-three species have been thus
far reported from this county, and there are, probably,
four or five yet to be discovered here. Two-thirds,
if not more, of the list may be found in any town.

The trees and shrubs now in flower are only four in number, few as compared with the earlier lists. There All the species of are also several evergreen herbs. Pyrola that can be found in this neighborhood might well be found in one day, although I happened to find them on successive days. They form an interesting group, with a strong family resemblance. Species of this genus are found across the continent to the Cascade Mountains. Pyrola picta, Smith, from the valley of the Willamette in Oregon, easily proves its relationship with Pyrola rotundifolia, L., from the valley of the Blackstone in Massachusetts. In all these species the simple racemes of nodding white or greenish-white flowers cannot fail to arrest attention, and suggest some resemblance, perhaps, to the lily of the valley in the garden.

By the country roadsides the bright blue flowers of the chicory are now opening, a weed fully as handI have found the little some as many garden flowers.

Circaa alpina in two places: one, the bottom of the gorge of "Purgatory" in Sutton, where it is almost buried in the wealth of shield-ferns which abound in those cool moist shades; the other, the "Trossachs" in Scotland, in a similar situation. Having found it in one of these places, I was not surprised to find it in the other. The partridge-berry is a delicate creeper, and when, as it often does, it covers the ground in a mat thickly dotted with the twin flowers, its efforts to contribute to the beauty of the woodland are not to be despised. The water pennywort is another trailing plant, that haunts the sides of the brook or shaded moist grounds. Its bright green leaves are its principal attraction, for the flowers are so small as to escape notice except on careful examination, which reveals the fact that here is a member of the great order Umbelliferæ.

We hardly recognize in this dusty-looking thing by the wayside any relation of the bright clean-looking red clover; but this is the rabbit-foot clover, the outcast of its family. This little pond, shrinking from the gaze of the hot July sun, still furnishes ample nourishment to the many species and numberless individuals. which line its borders or creep, now boldly, now timidly, into the water. There we now find blooming the drooping panicles of the Glyceria. The large spikes of Carex lupulina are visible afar. We are glad to see on the other side of the ditch, the handsome, thickly-set spikes

of Carex Pseudo-Cyperus, var. Americana. What a pity that it has not a simple common name in general use, by which it could be readily identified! Scirpus lacustris, with its tall, round, light-green stems, stands with its feet bathed in water, drawing strength from the rich soil, along with several species of Juncus; and the swamp-milkweed is a companion for them all.

This clove-like odor comes from that bush of white azalea, the last of its genus to bloom. These fleecy clusters of small white flowers point out the New Jersey tea, which otherwise we might overlook.

But the most showy flowers of this list are the lilies, the wild orange-red, and the yellow. They suggest not delicacy so much as strength, not humility so much as pride. They prefer different situations, the former being found in dry woodlands, the latter, in low meadows. They are the last representatives of the large order Liliaceæ, from which we gladly welcomed in spring the trilliums and the bellworts. They are worthy and fitting to close the long procession. Let us gather a handful of them while we may.

THE MID-JULY FLOWERS.

The system of binomial nomenclature as perfected by Linnæus has wonderfully helped the mind of man to domesticate the wild infinity of Nature. . . . so that a plant-name cannot wander out of the ranks any more than a runaway soldier could elude observation in the ancient Empire of the Cæsars.

- EARLE - English Plant Names.

Natural History studies appeal to the reason, to the judgment, and to the spiritual nature of man. Their pursuit produces in the mind a habit of order and arrangement, and at the same time improves the bodily senses by the accuracy of the observation necessary to discriminate the various objects which pass in review. Their value will depend somewhat upon the method and the fulness with which they are pursued. Suppose children were taught at school nothing but the names of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet and of the ten figures of the Arabic notation, without any insight into the wonderful results to be attained by their manifold combinations and relations, we should undoubtedly say