292 CRYPTOGAMIA— FILICES. Aspidium. 



Filix aculeata major, pinnis auriculatis crebrioribus, foliis integris 

 angustioribus. Rail Syn. 12). 



On shady hedge banks. 



Frequent about Black Notley, Essex. Rmj. In other parts of that 

 county. Mr. E. Forster. Near Tonbridge, and between Groom - 

 bridge and Withyham, Sussex. Mr. T. F. Forster. At Edge- 

 field, near Holt, Norfolk. Rev. R. B. Francis. At the Hermi- 

 tage, near Edinburgh. 



Perennial. July. 



This is most akin to A. aculeatum, n. 6, but Ray, in his excellent 

 Synopsis, has well marked their differences. The fronds of the 

 present species, though nearly as long as in that, are narrower, 

 the leaves, or pinnce, being shorter, and they are shorter still 

 than in A. angulare. They are also more crowded, especially 

 at the base, where the foremost lea/let of each lowermost pair 

 lies close to the main rib, and is so much larger than any of the 

 other leaflets, as to leave no vacancy along the middle part of 

 the frond, sometimes overlaying the rib itself. The leaflets in 

 general are rather larger than in either of the foregoing, more 

 pointed, and of a firmer texture, as well as of a lighter or paler 

 green, more polished, and less hairy, the main rib only being 

 scaly, the partial ones but slightly so towards the base. The 

 decurrent character of the leaflets was first pointed out to me 

 by Mr. D. Turner. 



Plukenet's synonym, erroneously quoted in the F/. Brit., properly 

 belongs to the small variety oi A. aculeatum ^ where it is already 

 indicated. 



9. A. spinulosum. Prickly-toothed Shield-fern. 



Frond somewhat triangular, smooth, douhly pinnate ; leaf- 

 lets decurrent, on a winged stalk, elliptical, deeply ser- 

 rated, with prickly teeth, and a zigzag midrib. Stalk 

 elongated ; scaly at the base. Cover orbicular, with a 

 lateral notch. 



A. spinulosum. Willd. Sp. PL v. 5. 262. FL Br. 1 1 24. Engl. Bot, 



v.2\.t. 1460. Forst. Tonbr. 119. 

 Polypodium spinulosum. FL Dan. t. 707. Retz, Prodr, 250. 



With. 778. 

 P. n. 84 1 . Muller FridrichsdoL 1 93. t. 2./. 2. 

 Filix pumila saxatilis altera. Pluk. Almag. 151. Phyt. t. 1 79./. 5. 



In marshy places, not common. 



In bogs upon Birmingham heath, and in Devonshire. Withering. 

 In a cavern on Spike island, near Cove, below Cork. Mr. J. T. 

 Mackay. In the north of Ireland. Dr. Scott. A single speci- 

 men, probably gathered in Norfolk, is in Mr. Rose's herbarium. 



Perennial. June, July. 



