230 



FERiVS. 



the puncture of some insect, which contracts the nerves of the mid-veins 

 of the pinnre. 



Another variety of ^. Filix-fconiua occurred on a waste, wettish piece 

 of ground near Lakefield. The fronds were short and somewhat broad, 

 stipes very short, black at the lower portion, near their junction with the 

 stock ; pinnules much toothed, slender-pointed, very pale green, and the 

 small light brown seed dots covering only the lower half, close to the 

 mid-rib, leaving the upper portion entirely free. The pinnae are confluent 

 on the rachis. The young, or rather early, fronds are white and silvery on 

 the underside. 



On the same grq^ind I found repeatedly a form of var. angiistiim^ the 

 pinnules of which were folded together so that only one-half of each was 

 seen ; this occurred both in the fruitful and also in the barren state of the 

 frond. I have also noticed the same thing in plants of Cystopteris 

 hulbifera, but less commonly — probably in both cases the alteration may 

 be referred to accidental circumstances. 



The texture of the leaf in A. Filix-jamina is very thin and delicate, 

 and the plant seems to be more attractive to the insect tribes than many 

 other ferns — towards the latter end of the Summer it is difficult to meet 

 with perfect fronds free from the mutilation of the leaf-cutters — for I 

 imagine the depredation to arise from some of the small bees 

 that make use of the leaves and flowers for covering their tauestried 

 cells. I am not certain, — I think so, from noticing that occasionally only 

 one, two or three leaflets are neatly cut off, as with a clean, sharp 

 instrument ; whereas, if bitten for food, the ragged and uneven edges 

 would have been left, or the nerves and veins, as most insects reject them. 

 It is possible, however, that this depredation may have been the work 

 of slugs. 



There is a very handsome variety of the Lady Fern occasionally met 

 with in our woods, in which the distinguishing feature is the lengthening 

 of the toothing division of the lower pinnules, forming a sharp, rather 

 prominent lobe, nearest to the rachis. 



Proscssor Macoun has a very fine s])ecimen of this variety in his 

 herbarium. 



Silvery Splkkn-vvort. — Asplcniuin ilielypieroides, (Michx ) 



This species is rather rare in our northerly townships of Smitli and 

 Douro, but occurs more freely in Hastings and other easterly places. 



I found a vigorous plant of the Silvery Spleen-wort growing in an old 

 marshy meadow at the root of a stumj), among a wilderness ot Onocleas 

 •and Ostrich-feather Ferns and coarse wild grasses,* on the shores of the 

 Otonabee River. It is a coarse-growing, robust fern, with stout stipe 

 and root-slock ; pinnules blunt ; veins free, as in other Aspleniums. 



