THE MALE F 
RN 
lobes small oblong-obtuse, obscurely erenated, с 
nvex, but recurved at the poin 
that the pinnae are 
concave, the points of the pinnse being also recurved, so that the frond itself is concavo, Тһе venation 
is comparatively simple; the midvein, which is carried up each lobe, produces veins of whieh the lower 
are once forked, the upper simple, In fronds of ordinary growth, scarcely any but the anterior branch 
of the lowest anterior vein in each lobe or 
nule bears а sorus, the sori then forming an almost simple 
line on each side the midrib of the pinnae about even with the sinuses of the pinnules, When however 
the growth is very luxuriant, a few of the basal pinnules bear two, three, or four sori each, but even in 
these cases, the sori form two simple series for moro than half the length of the pinnae. ‘The indusium 
is convex, reniform, persistent, and its margin is somewhat inflected beneath the spore-cases, and beaded 
with short-stalked deciduous, probably, glands, This rare Fern appears to have been brought from 
Snowdon, and has been recently found near Llyn Ogwen by Mr. S. O. Gray, It seems really to offer 
specific differences, in its constantly small size, the direction of the pinnw and pinnules, the peculiar 
distribution of the sori, the glandular inflected indusium, and in the important character of vernation 
In the process of unrolling its fronds, nothing like the shepherd's erook form is seen, but the rachis 
gradually unrols from the base to the apex. It is also reproduced from the spores, although that 
alone is not evidence of its distinctness, On the other hand, the gene 
1 form of the parts, and of the 
sori and indusia, agree with diminutive examples of the Male Fern, The fresh fronds are fragrant, in 
consequence no doubt of the presence of numerous small glands on their surface ; the f 
ance having 
something of the sweetness of Mignonette 
he Abbreviated Male Fern—L, Еплх-мав arme viara—is one of the permanently smaller forms, and 
is probably specifically distinct ; though the Dwarf Male Fern has many characters in common with it 
and the two are perhaps forms of one subalpine species. The present is however a larger plant, with 
considerably larger, broader, and therefore coarser lookin 
pinnules, and although they are to some extent 
recurved, yet they are by no means so fully nor so constantly so, as in Z. pumila, This also has the 
fronds, at least while young, glandular and fragrant 
The Golden-scaled Male Fern—L. Frux-was pareacea—(Prare XVIL) differs from the normal 
form, most obviously in its colour which is a yellowish green, and in the abundance of the lustrous 
golden-tinted scales, which clothe its stipes and rachis, so densely that their rich colouring is 
always conspicuous, but most so on inspecting the back of the frond. ‘The same plant seems 
1 that of Dr. Wallich in the East Indies; and by 
to have attracted Mr. Lowe's notice in Madeira 
its peculiar scaliness serves also to connect the common European Fiiz-mas, with some South 
American Ferns to which other names have been given. The outline of the frond, the pinne and 
the pinnules, ms of the common plant; that is, the fronds are 
like that of the less developed fi 
broad lanceolate, the pinnze pinnate only at their base, the pinnules oblong, obtuse, serrated at the apex, 
with a broad attachment. Mr. Wollaston points out, that the rachis and midyeins are more or less 
tinged with purple, but this also occurs sometimes in inci. Тһе sori are often, if not always, smaller 
nd the indusium before maturity, and even when the spore-cases are ripening, has its margins very 
much inflected beneath them, so that, when reversed, it is seen to have the form of a little pouch, 
just in fact like that presented by one of the leaflets of Cheilanthes lendigera, In the common and 
incised forms of Filix-mas, the margin of the indusium is merely bent down straight, a little sloping 
outwards till it comes in contact with the surface of the pinnule, ‘The plant appears not uncommon, but 
its range is not fully known. It is, in part, from the Indian forms of this plant—forms in which we can 
detect no difference except the darker colour of their scales, and their somewhat larger growth—that 
Prof. Braun has constituted his genus Dichasium, which is characterised by having *biseutelloid" indusia, 
which are indusia of roundish outline with a sinus extending upwards beyond the centre, so that the 
lobes look like two flaps We have ascertained from a careful examination of Dr. Wallich’s specimens 
that this appearance of the indusia is merely the result of age. In the younger and perfect stato the 
rior noteh or sinus, and very much inflected 
indusium is round, convex, with а p ins, just as 
