THE БОРТ PRICKLY SHIELD FERN 
= а quaintance with so many bulbi-bearing British Fern 
is i 3 Шамаға expecially Mr. Wollaston of Chislehurst, Dr. Allein 
Be 2 : Baxter of Oxford, during the summer of 1854 ; fo 
of Bayswater, Mr. Clapham of Scarborough, and Mr up 
in the most recent. publication on the subject, issued in the earlier part 
асаа ons панах према only, 2. прете M ом to ренина ВЫ property. МЕ Bastos Ма 
$ has been observed, having 
suggested that it may be a result of pot-cultare, all the instances in which Й 
afford additional evidence that the 
been on potted plants, The facts thus observed, appear t 
of Forms are not leaves, as some would call them, but to which the fact of their normally be 
fructiiation seems repugnant; but that they at least include something of the nature 
the fronds of Ferns are mere I 
Another fact which militates against the opinion that 
Leaves, it is maintained by physiologists, have their points first formed, the perfected apex 
were pushed forward by aceretion from below, but in th f Ferns it may of 
instration that the lower parts are perfectly develo matun whilst the apex 
is still unrolling; this is very obvious in the genus Nap 
Polystichum angulare is one of the Ferns which exhibits а considerable degree of variation, th 
differences in some instances being very marked, Mr. Wollaston has furnished us with the greater 
portion of the following enumeration of varieties — 
1. hastulatum (У). Thi mall pinnuled form, quite like the Italian Aast 
figured in the Flora Nap It is chiefly remarkable for the small size 
and for their distinet and slender footstalk ; the auricle, too, is very distinct, acut 
lower pinnules is separated by a deep incision from th е pinnul 
Martha's Hill in Surrey, and probably occurs elsewhere 
utum (17). This form has the pinnules acute, and very distinctly stalked, but the pinnul 
longer than in the Inst, rather narrow, faleate, and strongl orratures ar 
slightly developed, but the apices of both the pinnules and aurielos ppearan 
somewhat approaches P. aculeatum. Tt is rather local than un mpshire 
probably other counties. 
3, aristatum (W.). This, although not unlike the normal state of the spec » and habit 
differs in having the points of tho serratures aristate, and the long hair-like points stand forward in. 
remarkable way, giving the plant a bristly appearance, It is, moreover, very proliferou 
bulbils on the stipes, either beneath or at the surface of the ground, It was found by Mr. Wollaston 
in Sussex, in 1854, and retains its peculiarities in the fronds of 1855, 
4. multifidum (УУ. has the apex of the frond beautifully tuft metimes divided. 
It is, perhaps, rather an occasional variation than a permanent variety 
5. proliferum (УУ). There are two slight modifica 
have been found at Wimbledon, Surrey, by Mr. Choules (though we have specimens from Mr 
purporting to be from Devonshire, on the authority of Mr. Choules, and suspect this to be 
nshire, by Mr. Wollast 
us, bearing small bulbils chiefly at € 
habitat) ; the other was found recently near Ottery St, Mary, in De 
а more lax and elegant plant. Both forms are prolife 
junction of the pinna: with the rachis, but sometimes in the axils of the pinnules. It is a n 
plant under cultivation. When perfectly developed, especially in Mr. Wollastor's plant, it is tripinn: 
the pinnutes, which are narrowed and attenuated, 
lef, and the lobes so much s 
ich separated а 
to become pinnulets. When less comp 
Both the forms 
Ferns, but for the sake of securing as far as practicabl : 
