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in regard to which, after considerable study, I am not able to satisfy 
myself. The fern of which I speak was found at the foot of a 
declivity in damp woods, in a rich bottom through which runs 
a brook. It is of medium size, from 1 1-2 to 2 feet high, the 
stipe and rachis slender, fronds bipinnate, pinnae and pinnules 
not closely set but rather distant from each other, pinnules of the 
lower pinnae lobed or somewhat pinnatifid, but all having dis- 
tinct spaces between them, and not touching or overlapping as do the 
pinnules of A. tntermedium. Another peculiarity is, that pinnae of 
the same pair often differ froni 4 to 1 inch in length, so the fronds 
‘are frequently unsymmetrical. After reviewing all the descriptions 
of species and varieties in this section which I can find, Newman’s 
Lastrea spinosa seems to come nearest to it, Let me quote from his 
delightful “History of British Ferns,” 2nd edition,. “ The pinnae are 
are pinnate, and the pinnules detached and often distant. On the 
first pair of pinnae the first and second inferior pinnules are of 
nearly equal length, and are nearly twice as long as the correspond- 
ing superior ones; a somewhat similar discrepancy is observable in 
the pinnules of the second pair of pinnae, but beyond these it becomes 
scarcely observable ; some of the lower pinnules are deeply pinnati- 
fid, almost pinnate. The veins in the pinnules are alternately 
branched, each system of branches entering a division of the pinnule, 
and the aatertor branch bearing a circular cluster of capsules; this 
cluster is covered by a flat reniform involucre, the margins of which 
are sinuate, generally entire, and always wthout stalked glands, a 
character which, as far as my observation has extended, is constant, 
and is of great importance in distinguishing this species from those 
which follow, (viz: Lastrea dilatata,and recurva.) ‘This character 
sufficiently distinguishes the present plant from the spinulosa of 
Swartz, Willdenow, Schkuhr and Francis. Owing to the constant 
position of these clusters on each pinnule, they form a regular double 
line, the midvein of the pinnule passing up the centre; but when the 
pinnule is completely divided into lobes, each branch of the vein 
usually bears a cluster of capsules; this is more frequently the case 
in those pinnules which are nearest the main stem of the frond; and 
’ it may be observed that the clusters on all, except the usual capsule- 
bearing branch, are of smallersize. The seed is confined to the upper 
portion of the frond; exceptions to this are of rare occurrence. 
Each branch of the vein enters one of the serratures of the pinnule, 
but terminates before reaching the spine, with which it is quite un- 
connected.”’ 
I have condensed the above by leaving out sentences or parts of 
sentences, retaining only the pith of the description, It gives a very 
correct idea of the fern which I have found. I would add 
that the anterior vein upon which the sori are situated sometimes ter- 
minates “within the radius of the fruit-dot,” as Mr. Davenport 
phrases it, but almost as often goes beyond it. It will be noticed 
that Newman classes Swartz with Willdenow and others as giving 
stalked glands to the involucre of sfinudosum, and in his description 
of dilatatum, or L. multiflora, as he calls it, he repeats the assertion, 
and for ¢hat reason he identifies sp/nulosum with dilatatum—a reason 
ess 
