THE BROAD PRICKLY-TOOTHED BUCKLER FERN, 



growing, form of the species of which the lax state is remarkably elegant The form here intended has 

 the usual dark -centred scales. 



3. pumila (M.)- A small subdeltoid or ovate-deltoid bipinnate variation, in which the scales are 

 pallid. AVc have gathered it at Hampdtead > Middlesex, and TarbcU Dumbartonshire. It is the form 

 referred to as dumHornm in the Hand-book of British Ferns, where it was mistaken for Sir J. R Smith's 

 specie*. There occurs also a form similar to this in appearance, except that the scales are more 

 strongly two-coloured. We have seen this latter from Aber, Carnarvonshire ; Rothesay, liute ; and the 

 mountains of Dublin and Wicklow. 



4. ddtoidea (M«), This is a Devonshire plant, collected by the Rev. J, M. Chanter. It grows about 

 two feet high, and has deltoid tripinnate finely-cut fronds, the stipes slender, and the whole aspect of 

 the plant light and elegant The scales arc dark-coloured. 



5. fwcipes (M.). A glandular form of very elegant appearance, growing two feet high, the fronds 

 nearly as broad ns long (one foot high, and ten and a half inches wide), tripinnate, the points of the 

 frond and pininc caudate. The stipes, which is comparatively slender, and has dark narrow scales, is of 

 a pale chestnut brown behind. It was obtained in Guernsey by Mr. C!. Wolsey, the fortunate discoverer 

 in that island of Ophivf/tossum twtttmicum. 



6* tnicrotnera (M.>. The peculiarity of this form, which has a stout stipes clothed with large very 

 dark scales, and is of the normal ovate-lanceolate outline, and about two feet high, is, that it is moro 

 finely divided than usual. Though small in size, it is almost quadripinnate, and the pinnules and lobes 

 have sharp narrow teeth- It was found in the neighbourhood of Ilfracoml>c by the Rev. J. M, Chanter. 



7- nana (Severn.). The experience of Mr. Tatham and Mr. Chanter proves this to bo a permanent 

 variety, and not an immature condition of the plant, as might be supposed, It is, as its name implies, 

 a plant of dwarf stature, varying from two or three inches to nearly a foot in height The fronds are 

 ovate, bipiimate, and the stipes is furnished with lanceolate dark-centred scales. The plants from Settle 

 and from llfracombc are very similar, but from the latter neighbourhood there are two forms differing 

 slightly in the colour of the scales, and in the form and manner of the toothing of the pinnules ; the 

 dwarfer plant having the more pallid scales. 



8. dutneiorum (M.). A dwarf plant, with ovate or elongately triangular fronds, clothed beneath and on 

 the stipes and raehis with glands ; the sti|>es furnished with pale faintly two-coloured scales, which are 

 |>eeuliar in being fimbriated sparingly along their margins. The sori arc large, scattered, and produced 

 freelv on l>oth young and small-sized plants. The largest plants seldom exceed a foot in height. Some 

 of the forms have been referred to eotlina, but it differs from that in its abundant glands, and in its 

 pallid fimbriated scales. The Amu, Devon, aaid Isle of Man forms have their scales somewhat less 

 fimbriated than the others. A small ovate form, agreeing with this in the scales and in the glands, 

 found in Glen Croe, Argylcshirc, is tripinnate at the base, and has the pinnules much smaller than 

 usual, giving it a somewhat different aspect, and it is probably a permanent departure from this 



type of variation. 



9. collina (Ncwm.). This is a narrow erect form, from one to two feet high, with the fronds varying 

 from narrow ovate elongated at the point, so as to become ovato- lanceolate, to narrow ohlong-lnnccolatc. 

 The pinnules arc bluntly -oblong, with coarse acuminatcly-aristeto teeth. The scales of the stipes are 

 long, narrow, and strongly two-coloured. Some of the plants we have seen are smooth, others 

 sparingly glandular, but much less so than dumttora. It is ft very distinct* elegant, and permanent 



form. 



10. SmiOiii (M.). A small plant, which, on the authority of Mr- H, Shepherd, of Liverpool, was sent 

 him by Dr. Muckay, and is the plant from which Sir J, K. Smith drew up his description of AspidiuM 

 spintdmnm. it is probably the plant from Spike Island, near Cove, mentioned in English Flora (iv. 279). 

 The fronds arc short, the pinniu of the lower half of equal length, and with the tapering apex giving 

 a narrow elongately subtriangular-ovate outline. The pimue are opposite, horizontal, distinct, nnri 



