THE LADY FERN. 
four feet hi 
h, with a narrow 
iceolate outline, The pinnw are distant, the lower ones most so, as well 
as deflexed ; the majority however having an upward tendency. "he secondary rachis is slender, and 
without any herbaceous wing, the pinnules being set on quito distinet from each other, and very com 
monly at a right angle with it ; they are narrow, and have the appearance of bein 
almost linear, with 
the enlarged basal lobe quite evident. This narrowed appearance results from the i 
ving of the 
points of tho narrow lobes into which the mar, 
in is divided, whence the pinnules become convex. "Tho 
lobes are toothed, The sori are developed at the base of the lobes on the anterior sides of the venules, 
extending in two lines up the larger lobes, All the lobes however are so narrow, that they are neces- 
from the first, and become co 
sarily very near toge Juent as soon as the spore-cases begin to spread. 
This form or variety is no doubt general ; it is known to occur in various places all over 
gland, in 
North Wales, in both the Lowlands and Hi 
Miss Wi 
Is of Scotland, and in the four provinces of Ireland 
пез Lady Fern—A, Fnax-romusa 1armonion—(Praro XXXI. В. 
looking 
variation, so peculiar indeed that Mr. Babington wa 
induced on his first acquaintance with it to 
consider it a distinct species. It is no doubt a marked variety, and as it is reproduced from the 
spores we cannot accept the views of those who regard it asa nonentity. Its principal differences lio in 
the densely crowded condition, and unequal size, as well as uneven toothing or laciniation of tl 
pinnules, and in the situation of the sori. "Ihe fronds aro three fect or more in height, elongate oblong- 
lanceolate, flaccid, and of a dark-green colour, The stipes and rachis are stout, the former of about the 
average length. ‘The pimæ are short, and distant below, approximate or even crowded upwards, 
Т 
irregularly linear-oblong 
in outline, with a tendency to become euspida 
at the apex. "The pinnules 
are ovate, or oblong-ovate, blunt or sometimes acute, unequal, the anterior side being lar 
est, flat, 
stalked, or at least having a narrow stalk-like attachment, overlapping ; they are laciniate at the base, 
the lobes oblong and irregularly toothed ; these lobes beeo 
smaller upwards, and eventually towards 
the apex merge into teeth, the teoth being usually but unequally tape 4L The veins 
branched in the manner already described, and the sori are produced on the anterior side of the lowest 
anterior venule ; but the vein becomes branched at a 
vater distance from the midvein than is usually 
the ease, and thus the sori, which are small, are ranged in two distant lines, 
s Wrig 
out midway between 
the midvein and the margin, This variety was found by М nt, near Keswick, in Cumberland, 
where but a plant or two was discovered, It does not appear to have occurred elsewhere, Our figure 
taken from a specimen of moderate size, kindly communicated by Mr. F. Clowes, of Windermere 
exhibits a curious sport in one of its pinne, in which the rachis has become elongated, so that the 
pinnules do not stand in the usual imbrieated position. 
Dickie's Lady Fern—A tC (Pramg XXXI. C)—is a small plant, 
be known by the exactly elliptie-lanecolate out 
ne of its fronds and by its erowded oblong pinnules, 
which are connected at the base, and notched with blunt shallow teeth, which latter in many fronds are 
mostly simple. ‘The fronds are from a foot to а foot and a half long, spreading, or sub-decumbent, rigid, 
scarcely bipinnate. The upper pinnw are spreading, the lower ones deflexed. The 
les, largest 
next the rachi very obtuse, crowded 
slightly overlapping, connected by a narrow wing, 
the margin rather toothed than lobed, the indentations being shall 
w, and the projection on the upper 
half seldom more than blunt simple or somewhat retuse notches, though below they are generally two 
4, and sometimes are deeper, as well as bifid nearly to the apex. Тһе sori are Iunate, or 
with a tendency to assume the arcuate or horse-shoe-shaped form, and are ranged in a double 
n becomin; 
line along the pinnules, sometimes distinet, but o confluent, It is with us а very constant 
and neat-growing plant, having the above-mentioned peculiarities ; b 
we have scen fronds said to be 
produced by plants of this variety, in which the pinnules were less blunt, and the lobes were deeper, and 
bifid or trifid at their apex. It was originally found by Dr. Dickie in a cave by the sea, in the neigh 
bourhood of Aber 
1; and a plant almost exactly resemblin 
it, has been recently gathered by Dr 
Allehin, in the Isle of Man. 
