JULY. 



213 



only for the variety they offer, but for their beauty. There 



are two genera, both represented in our gardens, and of equal 



equal interest, namely, Lygo- 



dium, in which the veins are 



all free ; and Hydroglossum, 



in which they are reticulated. 



The lateral attachment of the 



spore-cases in this group is 



very curious. 



The Schizceece, which in- 

 clude several genera, are very 

 remarkable plants, quite dis- 

 similar to other ■ Ferns. In 

 Sckizaa, whose fronds can 

 scarcely be said to have any 

 leafy portion, but rather to con- 

 sist of dichotomously branched 

 ribs, the spore-cases occupy 

 curious contracted pinnasform 

 appendages, which terminate 



-iJL n c i.u u u gl. Lygodie-e: Hydroglossum heterodoxum. 



some or all of the branches. K 3 6 



branches. Another group, consisting of Anemia and Anemidicti/on, 



distinguished by the former having 

 free and the latter reticulated 

 veins, have the fructifications 

 paniculate, borne on distinct fronds 

 or distinct branches, and producing 

 the appearance of a flowering 

 Fern. Mokria has the apical- 

 ringed spore-cases scattered near 

 the margin of the scarcely con- 

 tracted plane segments of the 

 frond ; while in Trochopteris, a 

 little rosulate plant, an inch or two 

 only in diameter, and looking 

 more like a small flattened Lichen 

 than a Fern, the spore-cases are 

 similarly disposed on the basal 

 pair of lobes of the minute fronds. 

 The foregoing descriptions and observations, embracing all the groups 

 — Orders, Tribes, and Sections — into which Ferns are divided for the 

 purposes of classification, aided as they are by ample illustrations, 

 should enable intelligent students of Ferns to ascertain the group to 

 which any particular species under examination should be referred. 

 The further discrimination of genera, and the distinctions of species, 

 are the next steps in following out the classification of Ferns to a 

 practical issue. 



Chelsea. ■ Thomas Moore. 



22. Schiz^ejE: Auemia collina. 



Note. — The references to the engravings on pp. 10G, 107, numbered 22 and 23, 

 require to be transposed. 



