TIIK LADY FEHN* 



apex. Thesori arc near to the midrib, and often become confluent It is a common plant. Possibly it 

 may be the more highly developed condition of some of the commoner small plants referred to 

 matte ; ox*, it may be a less developed state of the incisum group, We believe, however, that 

 some at least of the forms referred abovo to motU and odontomancs, arc permanently distinct from 

 the more divided forms representing the incisum and rftwticum groups. 



11. ovatum (Roth)* This is more readily identified, from being figured by Mullcr. It grows from 

 two to three feet high, with broad lanceolate fronds. The pinnules are ovate-oblong, narrowed but 

 obtuse at the points. Hat, largest on the anterior side, deeply piunatiild, the toothing of the lobes not 

 confined to their apices. The son arc placed in two lines near the midrib, and a teudenev is shown to 

 devclopo more than one on the basal lobes. It does not appear to be very frequent, 



12. trtttumm (M.). This has broad fronds, about two feet high, the leafy portion about half as broad 

 as long. The pinnules are tlat> distinct obliquely and very obtusely ovate-oblong, somewhat decurrent 

 behind, cut into a few broad variously-toothed lobes, the teeth short and bluntish. It has somewhat 

 the appearance of blunt phiuulcd forms of Laslna dilaUtta. The son form two lines nearer the midrib 

 than the margin. It was found at Virginia Water by Dr. AUcluii. 



13. frwidosum (M.). This is a larger and more compound state, two to three feet high, with broad 

 lanceolate fronds, and broad approximate pinna) ; the fronds having a more crowded lcafv appearance 

 than usual. The pinnules near the centre of the frond arc sometimes seven-eighths of an inch Ion**, and 

 fully three-eighths in breadth, pyramidal, pinnatitid nearly to the midrib, the lobes oblong toothed, and 

 the lower ones bearing several sori, in which the tendency to become arcuate is strongly marked, that 

 nearest the midvein of the pinnule, on each lolw, being uniformly horse-shoe-shaped. The stipes and 

 raehis are red in plants we have met with at Mayford. A very similar form has been sent us from Den- 

 bighshire by Mr- Pritehard ; and another form which belongs here also, has been sent by Mr. & J« Lowe. 



14 duvutlimdes <W.). This singular aberration from the normal form was discovered in 185*1, near 

 Castle Kelly, in the county of Dublin, Ireland Dr. Kinahan, its discoverer, describes the pinnules 

 to be pinnatiful ; " the indentations entire at their edges, and bearing the sori in the angle. The spore- 

 cases project beyond the edge of the frond, which, added to the bulging forwards of the substance of the 

 pinnule, gives the plant much the appearance of a Davallia, though of course differing from that genus 

 in the shape and position of the indusium ; the segments bear but a single vein and sorus." It is 

 very raro ; and only known to us from tho above memoranda, communicated by Mr. Wollastoit. 



15. inrisnm (Hotlm.). This represents the spceies in its highest state of development, the pinnules being 

 so deeply divided that the fronds become almost or quite tripinnatc* Usually it is a large-growing plant, 

 with broad drooping feathery fronds. In one example now before us, gathered in the county Clare, Ireland, 

 by Mr. R. Harrington, tho height is about five feet, and tho breadth one foot^ the piniue which are 

 ascending being quite nine inches long, and the pinnules an inch and a half long, and five-ci"hths of 

 an inch wide at the Iwise. Three to four feet is not an uncommon height for this variety, which puts 

 on many appearances, and in one or other of its conditions is not infrequent A form of it less 

 common, has tho divisions of the pinnules more narrowed and distinct than usual, but equally deeply cut, 

 as represented in Plate XXX., which is perhaps the most elegant state of this really graceful species, 



16. hixum (Schum.). This is like the last in being a large broad much divided form, but in well 

 developed state* it is even more lax in habit. Its peculiarity consists in tho very conspicuous elongation 

 of the anterior basal lobe of the long narrow pinnules, which form a line on each side the midrib. It 

 first attracted our notice in specimens from the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury, in the collection of the 

 Rev, W. A. Leighton, and wc have since received it from many localities in tho three kingdoms, so that 

 it does not appear to be an accidental condition, but a distinct and permanent form. It accords with 

 Schumacher's description of his Athyrium luznm. The prolongation of the anterior lobe into a kind of 

 auricle, indicates an approach towards the variety rftalicum, in which the same kind of elongation is 

 manifest, but all our specimens are much broader and more lax than the latter plant. We may add 



