DUBLIN NATUBAL BISTOBT SOCIETY. 51 



who describes and figures it in his British Ferns, has given the name of Stric* 

 turn. His plants were procured from Ambleside. The plants before you were 

 procured at Glenmacnass, county of Wicklow, growing in a cleft of a rock, last 

 July ; they have continued under cultivation ever since without materially alter- 

 ing their character. The only satisfactory analogue to it recorded is a variety 

 of L. Filix Mas, of which specimens from Kilmashogue, near Whit^church, are 

 before you. 



To the form of the Lady Fern (Athyrium Filix Fcemina) which next engages 

 our attention, several names have been given, of which the least open to objection 

 appears to be Furcatum. It differs, as you perceive, from the common form in 

 having its pinnae and the apex of the frond split up into a number of segments, 

 so as to present a tasselled appearance. This specimen was obtained in a hedge 

 row, at Caherpoher, near Feacle, county of Clare, growing on Silurian clay slate, 

 and has, as you perceive, retained its characters in cultivation. A more singu- 

 lar monstrosity of the same form is figured in " Newman's British Ferns." This 

 last was obtained in Mayo, and is remarkable for seeding freely, the seedlings 

 in every respect resembling the original plant. There is also in the College col- 

 lection a fern obtained at Killarney, by the late Mr. Ogilby, which closely re- 

 sembles that found by me in Clare; and Mr. J. Bain, to whom I am indebted for 

 the careful cultivation of the plants exhibited to-night, informs me that the same 

 form was found by him some years ago at Chatsworth. This is the only record 

 of this variety as English, though an allied form, Crispum, has been recorded in 

 Scotland. This form has been also called incorrectly Viviparum, for the habit 

 of the plant is not viviparous. Another name given to it is Multifidum, also ob- 

 jectionable, as a multitid form of the frond does exist, as this specimen shows, re- 

 sembling in its characters those multifid forms of other ferns to which I just now 

 drew attention. The only analogue recorded of this is a form of Lastrea Filix 

 Mas, to which the same name, Furcatum, has been given. I should mention Ath. 

 Filix Fsemina, var. Furcatum, has been also found in Wicklow. 



"We next in order come to the variety of Polystichum lobatum, to which the 

 name of Lonchitioides has been given on account of its resemblance to the holly- 

 leaved shield-fern P. lonchitis. The plants I obtained at Curraghclune Ar- 

 thur, near Feacle, county of Clare, during last August. When cultivated, it is 

 said to resume its original form. It has been in the country recorded as growing 

 at Malone in Ulster, and I have seen specimens of it sent from Carlow as Lon- 

 chitis. It is at once distinguished from Lonchitis by the bipinnate character of 

 the lower pinnae. The fronds are fertile. It is very common in some parts of 

 Scotland. I also show you an analogous state of Pol. angulare from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Bray, and a form as yet unnoticed, though I have met it in many 

 parts of the country. In conclusion, I beg leave again to bring before your So- 

 ciety this variety of Polystichum angulare exhibited before you last session, and 

 to which I then gave the name of Viviparum, owing to its producing gemmae in 

 the axils of the pinnules. This is before you now, to show the autumnal fronds, 

 which in their characters differ greatly from those produced in the spring, more 

 nearly approaching the character of the typical form. 



DECEMBER 18, 1854. 



OM A DIGITATE VARIXTT OF BOTRTCHIUM LUNARIA, AND A NEW IRISH LOCALITY 

 FOB LOPHODIDM SPIN08DM. BY J. R. KINAHAN, M. B. 



[With a Plate.] 



As far as I can learn, this interesting form of the common moonwort has 

 been hitherto undescribed, differing so obviously as it does from the forms de- 

 scribed as Rutaceum and Matricarioides. Its chief interest is, 1 take it, twofold 

 — first, as showing the relation between forms of venation, which appear dis- 

 tinct ; and, secondly, as throwing not a little light on the true homologies and 



