204 MACOUN AND BURGESS ON 



scythe-shaped, almost entire, or creuate, or serrate with appressed teeth ; sori large, gener- 

 ally distinct, and placed very near the midvein ; iudnsia smooth, often with the sides of 

 the sinus overlapping, thus making them appear round and entire. 



This fern presents no marked variations, differences in the degree of serration of the 

 seo-ments alone constituting the vars. serrata and integerrima of Prof. Lawson, in Can. 

 Nat., Vol. I, p. 283. 



Very rare in the extreme eastern part of our territory, and, though found in low^ rich 

 Avoods throughout the greater part of Ontario, as far west as Georgian Bay, it is not 

 at all common even there. Near Woodstock, N. B. — P. Jack. Richmond and Drummond 

 Cos., Que. — /. A. BothweU. The Mountain, Montreal, Que. — D. R. McCord. Abundant 

 amono- gneiss rocks near Hamilton's Farm, River Rouge, Que. — W. S.M. D' Urban. Nun's 

 Island, Montreal, Que. — S. H. Parsons. Ottawa, Ont. — J. Fletcher. Farmersville and banks 

 of river to westward of Brockville, Ont., in crevices of Laurentian rocks. — Laiuson. "Woods, 

 Belleville, Castleton and Brighton, Ont. — Macoun. Woodstock, Out. — Millman. Rich 

 woods, London, Ont. — Burgess. Amherstburgh, Ont. — Maclugan. 



t t Fronds large, twice pinnate near the base, but the upper pinnules con- 

 fluent ; iudnsia rather large, firm, convex and persistent. 



5.— A. FiLix-MAS, Swartz, (Male-Fern), Syn. Fil., 65. Gray, Man., 666. Macoun's Cat.. 

 No. 2310. Fowler's N. B. Cat , No. I5la. Ball, Trans. N. S. Inst. Nat. Sci., IV, 158. Goode, 

 Can. Nat., IX, 29*7. Eaton, Ferns of N. A., I, 311. Underwood, Our Nat. Ferns, etc., 106. 



Lastrea Filix-mas, PresL, Lawson, Can. Nat., I, 282. 



Polystichnm Filix-mas, Roth., AVatt, Can. Nat., IV, 363. 



Nephrodium Filix-mas, Richard. 



Poll/podium Filix-mas, L. 



Dryopteris Filix-mas, Schott. 



A very handsome species, with the fronds rising in a circle to a height of 1 to 4 feet. 

 It is found in rocky w^oods or on open, rocky hillsides, and, though non-evergreen, stands 

 considerable frost. Rootstock stout, ascending or upright, chaffy, and covered with old 

 stalk-bases ; stalks stout, 2 or 3 inches to 1 foot long, straw-coloured, and very chaffy ; 

 fronds broadly to rather narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 9 inches to 3 feet long, acuminate, 

 smooth except for the chaffy scales of the rachis and midribs, dark green above but paler 

 beneath, and pinnate ; pinnte lanceolate, tapering from base to apex, acuminate, and pin- 

 natifid almost or rarely quite to the midrib ; segments crowded, oblong, obtuse, not very 

 deeply toothed, the basal ones sometimes incisely lobed ; sori rather large, nearer the mid- 

 vein than the margin, generally absent from the apex of the segments ; indusia smooth. 



This fern, in addition to being somewhat variable as regards its degree of scaliness, 

 presents a var. incisnm, Mett., which differs from the typical plant in having the fronds very 

 large and scantily chaffy ; pinnœ much broader at the base ; segments larger, more dis- 

 tant, ovate-lanceolate, acutish, and pinnately incised, with toothed lobes along the sides ; 

 indusia more delicate and less persistent. 



The roots of A. Filix-mas have strong anthelmintic properties, and in Siberia they are 

 used as a flavoring ingredient in brewing ale. The Norwegians use the unfolded fronds 

 as greens, and in other places the w^hole plant, which abounds in alkali, is used in the 

 manufacture of soap. 



