THE LADY FERN'. 



four feet high, with a narrow lanceolate outline. The pinnie arc distant, the lower ones moat so, as well 

 ns deflcxed ; the majority however having an upward tendency. The secondary racbis is slender, and 

 without any herbaceous wing, the pinnules being set on quite distinct from each other, and very com- 

 monly at a right angle with it ; they are narrow, and have the appearance of being almost linear, with 

 the enlarged basal lobe quite evident. This narrowed appearance results from the incurving of the 

 points of the- narrow lobes into which the margin is divided, whence the pinnules become convex. The 

 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 arc so narrow, that they are neces- 

 sarily very near together from the first* and become confluent as soon as the sjwre-cascs begin to spread. 

 This form or variety is no doubt general ; it is known to occur in various places all over Eii'dand in 

 North Wales, in both the Lowlands and Highlands of Scotland, and in the four provinces of Ireland. 



Miss Wright's Lady Fern— A. Fiux-fo:mixa mmum- (Plate XXXI. R)— is a peculiar-looking 

 variation, so peculiar indeed that Mr. Babington was 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 tho views of those who regard it as a nonentity. Its principal differences lie in 

 tho densely crowded condition, and unequal size, as well as uneven toothing or laciniation of the 

 pinnules, and in the situation of the sori. The fronds are three feet or more in height, elongate oblong- 

 lanceolate, flaccid, and of a dark -green colour. The stipes and racbis are stout, the former of about the 

 average length. The pinna) are short, and distant below, approximate or even crowded upwards, 

 irregularly linear-oblong in outline, with a tendency to become cuspidate at the apex. Tho pinnules 

 aro ovate, or oblong-ovate, blunt or sometimes acute, unequal, the anterior side being largest, flat, 

 stalked, or at least having a narrow stalk-like attachment, overlapping ; they are laciniate at tho base, 

 the lobes oblong and irregularly toothed ; theso lobes becomo smaller upwards, and eventually towards 

 tho apex merge into teeth, the teeth being usually but unequally taper-pointed. The veins aro 

 branched in the manner already described, and the sori are produced on the anterior side of the lowest 

 anterior venule ; but the vein Incomes branched at a greater distance from the inidvein than is usually 

 the case, and thus the sori, which are small, are ranged in two distant lines, about midway between 

 the inidvein and the margin. This variety was found by Miss Wright, near Keswick, in Cumberland, 

 where but a plant or two was discovered. It docs 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 pinmo, in which the rachis has becomo elongated, so that tho 

 pinnules do not stand in the usual imbricated position. 



Dickie's Lady Fern— A. Fiux-ixemixa marixum— (Plate XXXI. C.)— is a small plant, generally to 



lw known by the exactly clliptic-lanccolnto outline of its fronds and by its crowded 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 a foot and a half long, spreading, or sub-decumbent, rigid, 



scarcely bipinnatc. Tho upper pinna? aro spreading, the lower ones deflcxed. The pinnules, largest 



next the rachis, arc oblong, very obtuse, crowded, or slightly overlapping, connected by a narrow wing, 



the margin rather toothed than lobed, the indentations being shallow, and the projection on the upper 



half seldom more than blunt simple or somewhat retuso notches, though below they aro generally two 



or three-toothed, and sometimes are deeper, as well as bifid nearly to the n|>ex. The sori are lunate, or 



with ft strong tendency to assume the arcuate or horsc-shoe-shaped form, and are ranged in a double 



line along the pinnules, sometimes distinct, but often becoming confluent It is with us a very constant 



and neat-growing plant, having the above-mentioned peculiarities ; but we have seen 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- 



Ixmrhood of Aberdeen ; and a plant almost exactly resembling it, has been recently gathered by Dr. 

 Allchin, in the Isle of Man. 







