50 DUBLIN NATUBAt HISTOKT SOCIETY. 



JUNE 10, 1852. 



ON p. ANOULARB, VAR. VIVIPARUM. 



Mr. Kinahan exhibited a variety of Polystichum angulare, found by him at 

 Bohernabreena, county of Dublin, in 1849, and made the following statement : — 

 The example of Polystichum angulare now submitted to your Society is cu- 

 rious, as being an exception to the law which seems generally to prevail among 

 the ferns as regards varieties. These generally differ from the typical plant by 

 having something added to them, either an actual expansion, or a subdivision of 

 the typical parts. We have a good example of it in this variety, of Polystichum 

 angulare, obtained in Ballinteer, in this county, in which, as you see, the pinnae, 

 particularly near the upper extremity, are enlarged so as to give a more ex- 

 panded appearance to the entire frond. Now let us contrast this with the va- 

 riety to which I first drew your attention, and the great difference must strike 

 }rou at once. In this we find the broad pinnae of the type replaced by narrow 

 inear leaflets, in some of the fronds resembling spines or points, while in 

 others they have totally disappeared, especially at the upper half of the frond, 

 which in many presents a long filament totally destitute of any pinnae. These 

 appearances have continued constant under cultivation, as must be evident, if 

 we compare the plant now with these fronds taken from it in August, 1849, 

 when I tound'it growing on slate rocks, by the side of a stream which, running 

 throngh Friarstown House demesne, falls into the Dodder, just above Boherna- 

 breena. This year some of the fronds show a tendency to produce bulbils in the 

 axils of the pinnae, but there are no other traces of a tendency to reproduction. 

 [After being three years under cultivation, sori were produced abundantly, the 

 general character of the plant remaining unchanged.] {Fide figure, Asp. acu- 

 leatum, &c.) 



FEBRUARY 18, 1853. 



ON AN UNDE8CRIBED VARIETY OF BLECHNUM SPICANT. BT J. R. KINAHAN, A. B. 



It is my intention this evening to place on our annals a notice of some varie- 

 ties, or rather monstrosities, of ferns, most of them unnoticed hitherto in this 

 country, and one at least hitherto undescribed. The first I shall notice is this 

 striking variety of Blechnum spicant, Roth. It was found last July near Upper 

 Lough Breagh, county Wicklow, and has not hitherto been noticed by any author. 

 The nearest approach to it is a frond figured by Dr. Deakin, in his Flor. Brit., 

 which is identical with a variety of the same plant of which I now show you 

 specimens gathered in the counties of Carlow, Clare, and Waterford. To the 

 latter the name of Multifidum may with propriety be given, while, for that first 

 mentioned, Ramosum would be appropriate. The two differ materially ; first, 

 Multifidum is inconstant, and not permanent, i.e., neither affecting all the fronds 

 of the plant nor remaining constant under cultivation: while Ramosum both af- 

 fects all the fronds, and remains permanent under cultivation ; secondly, Multi- 

 fidum has the apices of the fronds simply dichotomous, and distinct to their extre- 

 mity, the main mid vein running out to the extremity of each division of the frond, 

 &c.,each ofthe subdivisions terminating in apoint, and not curled ; while in Ramo- 

 sum the apices are subdivided, and the mid vein terminates in a lash of branches, so 

 that the segments are rounded and curled on themselves — in every respect, save 

 their single rachis, bearing a perfect analogy to a form of Scolopendriumvulgare, 

 ▼ar. Ramosum or crispum, where we find the same appearances contrasting with 

 the multifid form of Hartstongue, as these specimens show. This form of Scolo- 

 pendrium has not, I believe, been found here. I cannot find any forms of any 

 other fern analogous to Blechnum spicant (ramosum). The multifid variety in 

 this country prevails in many other species. 



The next on our list is this distorted variety of Bl. spicant. To it Francis, 



