io6 



all round with the most delicate fringe. Passing to the 

 Broad Buckler Fern, its normal beauty needs no heighten- 

 ino^, and merely naming two splendid varieties of the Male 

 Fern — Lastvea pseudo-mas cristata, known as the *' King of 

 our British Ferns," and L. p.-ni. polydadyla Dadds — we 

 come to the class which for purposes of outdoor decoration 

 stands pre-eminent — the Shield Ferns. So numerous are 

 the varieties of Polystichnm annulare alone, that a whole 

 garden might be devoted to this one species. In alluding — 

 no more is possible — to the Polystichums, I shall confine 

 myself to a single group of P. angulave, the Divisilobes ; 

 because in them the highest decorative level of British, if 

 not of any known ferns is reached. The whole group is 

 conspicuous alike for boldness of outline and extreme 

 delicacy of detail; especially good are P. a. divisilohuin 

 grande, and P. a. divisilobum vohustum. But it is round 

 the inner section, known as plumose divisilobes, that in- 

 terest grows keenest. Here the fronds are divided and 

 sub-divided until it becomes no easy matter for the naked 

 eye to discern the minute but exquisitely symmetrical 

 divisions which result ; and the pinnae and pinnules so 

 richly overlap that the whole appearance is that of softest 

 fur, or most luxuriant feathers. Deep in an artificial dell, 

 contrived to afford the necessary shelter, I have raised an 

 exceptional fine specimen of P. a. divisilohuin plumosuin 

 laxum) a small bridge crosses just above the fern. The 

 ordinary visitor has little in the way of praise to bestow on 

 ferns in general, but I have never known any who did not 

 break into exclamations of wonder and admiration as they 

 bent over the unrivalled beauty of this empress of ferns. 

 Another exceptionally fine member of the same family is 

 P. a. div. plumosum Esplan. 



We reach last the varieties of the Common Polypody. 

 In number they are few compared with those of the fore- 

 going species. Still, my own collection includes some 

 twenty, and thirty-four are enumerated in the " Book of 

 British Ferns," by C. T. Druery, F.L.S., V.M.H. For 



