BRITISH FERNS. 



63 



elongate, sometimes rising several inches above the surface of the 

 ground: in one instance I have seen it more than a foot in 

 height, thus evincing a 

 considerable proximity 

 to the Dicksoniae, and 

 other tree-ferns. Mr. 

 * Ball, of Dublin, called 

 my attention to a plant 

 in one of Mr. Ward's 

 cases, in which this pe- 

 culiarity was very re- 

 markable. The fronds 

 appear in May; in ver- 

 nation they resemble 

 those of iilix-mas, hav- 

 ing the apex bent down- 

 v^ards after the fashion 

 of a shepherd's crook. 



The form of frond is 

 somewhat lanceolate: it 

 is pinnate ; the pinnae 

 are linear, more or less 

 crowded, acute at the 

 apex, and regularly pin- 

 nate: the pinnulae are 

 distant, very distinct, %^ 

 and either deeply ser- 

 rated, pinnatifid, or pin- 

 nate. One-fourth of the 

 rachis is naked, but has 

 numerous black scales. 



The midvein of the 

 pinnulae is waved; the 

 lateral veins are forked 

 shortly after leaving the 

 midvein, and the an- 

 terior branch of each 

 bears, about half-way 

 between the midvein 

 and margin, an elon- 

 gate, somewhat reni- 

 form mass of thecae, which is partially covered by an indusium 



