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THE MALM FERN. 



lobes small oblong-obtuse, obscurely crenated. convex, but recurved at the points, so that the pinmc are 



concave, the points of the pinn* being also recurved, so that the frond ifeclf is concave. The venation 



is comparatively simple ; the midvein, which is carried up each lobe, produces veins of which 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 pinnule bears a sorus, the son then forming an almost simple 



line on each side the midrib of the pinme 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 son each, but even in 



these cases, the son form two simple scries for more than half the length of the pinme. The mdusiuni 



is convex, reniform, persistent, and its margin is somewhat inflected beneath the spore-cases, and beaded 



with short-stalked deciduous, probably, glamk This rare Fern apjicars to have been brought from 



Snowdon, and has been recently found near Llyn Ogwcn by Mr. S. O. Gray. It seems really to offer 



specific differences, in its constantly small size, the direction of the pimuc and pinnules, the peculiar 



distribution of the son, the glandular inflected indusium, and in the important character of vernation. 



In the process of unrolling its fronds, nothing like the shepherds crook form is seen, but the rachis 



gradually unrols from the base to the apex. It is also reproduced from tho spores, although that 



alone is not evidence of its distinctness. On the other hand, the general form of the parte, and of the 



son and indusia, agree with diminutive examples of the Male Kern. The fresh fronds arc fragrant* iu 



consequence no doubt of the presence of numerous small glands on their surface ; the fragrance having 



something of the sweetness of Mignonette. 



Tho Abbreviated Male Fern — L. Fimx-mam aiuhekviata — is one of the permanently smaller forms, ami 

 is probably specifically distinct ; though the Dwarf Male Fern has many characters in common with it, 

 and the two arc perhaps forms of one subalpine species. The present is however a larger plant, with 

 considerably larger, broader, and therefore coarser looking pinnules, and although they are to some extent 

 recurved, yot they are by no means so fully nor so constantly so, as in L. pumifa This also has tho 

 fronds, at least while young, glandular and fragrant. 



The Golden-scaled Male Fern— L. Fiux-mas paleacba— (IYatk XVII.) 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 ins|>ccting the back of the frond- The saute plant seems 

 to have attracted Mr. Lowe's notice in Madeira, and that of Dr. Wallich in the East Indies ; and by 

 its peculiar scalincss serves also to connect the common European Filix-mas, with some South 

 American Ferns to which other names have been given- The outline of the frond, the pinme and 

 the pinnules, is like that of the less developed forms of tho common plant; that i3, the fronds are 

 broad lanceolate, the pinme pinnate only at their base, the pinnules oblong, obtuse, serrated at the apex, 

 with a broad attachment Mr* Wolhiston |>omts out, that the racbis and midvems arc more or less 

 tinged with purple, but this also occurs sometimes iu incisa. The sori are often, if not always, smaller, 

 and the indusium before maturity, and even when the spore-eases 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 Clmlunfhcs Uttdiffera* In the common and 

 incise*! forms of Fiftr-ma*, 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 apjicars not uncommon, but 

 its range is not fully known. It is, in pari* 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 Dicfumnm, which is characterised by having 'biscutelloid'iudusia, 

 which are indusia of roundish outline with a sinus extending upwards beyond the centre, so that the 

 lobes look like two flap* We have ascertained from a careful examination of Dr. WalUch's specimens 

 that this appearance of the indusia is merely the result of age. In the younger and perfect state the 

 indusium is round, convex, with a jiosterior notch or sinus, aud very much inflected margins, just as 







