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numbers, but always of its specific type, as described 

 above. In the direction of wild variation or "sports," P, 

 angulavc — no doubt owing to some extent to its far greater 

 numbers in our best Fern-hunting districts — far excels P. 

 aculeatum, and ranks, as we have indicated, among the 

 ferns of all the world, as the most generous of all the ever- 

 green species in the way of distinct forms as regards 

 dissection, form of subdivisions, habit, and appearance 

 generally. It is, perhaps, the only British Fern which has 

 become popularly familiar in the varietal way as a house 

 plant, owing to the beauty of its proliferous form (P. ang- 

 pvolifernni), found very long ago, and distributed generally 

 by the trade by reason of its easy propagation and 

 culture. This is a much-dissected variety, with 

 its subdivisions greatly multiplied, very slender and 

 acutely pointed, giving its fronds quite a mossy 

 look. Under congenial culture the stalks of the fronds 

 break out into innumerable little buds, these some- 

 times even extending to the secondary midribs as well, so 

 that a frond, if layered and kept close, produces an 

 abundant crop of youngsters. Hence trade growers have 

 found it easy to raise in large quantities and distribute 

 widely, while, as it is perfectly hardy and evergreen, its 

 popularity as a house plant has been maintained. In 

 addition, however, to this particular example, those who 

 for more than half a century have devoted themselves to 

 the search for new ** sports " among our wild native Ferns 

 have found hundreds of other forms of equal and even 

 greater value, embracing not only replicas on similar but 

 diverse lines to P. ang. pvolifertiin, but many others of very 

 different character, and even more beautiful. Thus we 

 have some forms still more finely dissected, and with their 

 sub-divisions so differently shaped as to render them 

 altogether different in aspect — some which have their 

 terminal points expanded into tassels on varied lines ; 

 some with tubular fronds ; and some dwarfed and con- 

 gested — so that a collector may include examples ranging 



