Aspidium.] FILICES. 339 



Templeton. County of Derry ; Mr. D. Moore. Hedge-banks in a 

 lane on the north side of the Circular-road ; Mr. F. Whitla. Dis- 

 tinguished from the following by its more convex pinnules, which are 

 decurrent, and by the upper one next the rachis being much longer 

 than the rest. 



3. A. acideatum, Sw. Prickly Shield-fern. Fronds broadly 

 lanceolate, bipinnate ; pinnules rigid, somewhat convex, slightly 

 petioled, ovato-sublunate, acuminate or acute, aristate, ob- 

 liquely truncate and auricled at the base on the upper side, the 

 one next the main rachis somewhat larger than the rest, the 

 margins distinctly serrated and spinulose ; stipes and rachis 

 chaffy. Br. Fl. ed. 3. p. 449. E. Fl. v. iv. p. 290. E. Bot. 

 t. 1562, (bad.) 



In the lower wooded part of Colin Glen, Belfast. Hedge-banks near 

 Carrickfergus ; Mr. F. Whitla. County of Derry ; Mr. B. Moore. 

 Nearly allied to the last, and perhaps only a variety of it. It may 

 however be readily distinguished by the shortly petioled, not decurrent, 

 generally longer, and more acute pinnules. 



4. A. angulare, Sin. and Willd. Angular-leaved Shield-fern. 

 Fronds broadly lanceolate, bipinnate; pinnules thin and mem- 

 branaceous, plane, petioled, ovate, sublimate, obtuse, aristate, 

 obliquely truncate at the base, with a large auricle on the upper 

 side, the margins deeply serrated, spinulose, the lowermost ones 

 often deeply pinnatitid, that next the main rachis scarcely 

 larger than the rest, (excepting in var. /3.); stipes and rpchis 

 very chaffy; fructifications copious. Br. Fl. ed. 3. p. 449. 

 E. Fl. v. iv. p. 291. E. Bot. Sappl. t. 2776. — A. aculeatum, 

 ft. Fl. Br. p. 1122.— A louatum, Willd. ?—Hooh. Br. Fl. ed. 1. 

 p. 443. — ft. subtripinnate ; pinnules, especially the lower ones, 

 and the somewhat larger one next the main rachis, distinctly 

 pinnate. 



Woods and hedge-banks. Very common in the Counties of Wick- 

 low, Down, Antrim, and Derry, and other parts of the country, where 

 it had long been known as A. acideatum, until Sir J. E. Smith de- 

 scribed it under the above name. — Softer and more delicate in texture, 

 as well as more shaggy than the last, and of a lighter green. The 

 leaflets are smaller, more numerous, blunter and rounded at the extre- 

 mity, tipped with a soft bristly point. In 0. the pinnules are longer 

 and more pointed, with about three pairs next the rachis distinctly 

 pinnate. Another var. that I have been long acquainted with, of 

 which also Mr. G. S. Gough collected specimens near Clonmel, 

 has the pinnules narrow and lanceolate, with one terminal and several 

 lateral, long, distant, rather rigid points. — Intermediate states between 

 this species and A. acideatum are found near Belfast by Mr. F. Whitla. 



* H* Involucre orbiculari-reniform, fixed by the sinus. 

 (Nephrodium, Rich. Br.) 



5. A. Oreopteris, Sw. Heath Shield-fern. Fronds pinnate; 

 pinnae lanceolate, pinnatifid, glabrous, resinoso-glandulose be- 

 neath, the segments lanceolate, obtuse, entire, lowermost ones 



