242 FEK^VS. 



plant. I have also found an abnormal form of cristatuin, where the 

 pinniv were upright, clasping the rachis and twisting round it ; the pinnae 

 were very narrow, as also the lobes ; the sori flatter and the indusia much 

 thinner and paler in colour ; the fronds of a very light green, and the 

 lower part of the stipe of a reddish brown. 



I have also met with a chance form where the pinnai were forked 

 at the lower pairs, but accidental varieties occur in most of the forest 

 ferns. 



I have also found specimens of Cystopteris bulbifem and of 

 Dicksonia piloshiscula, handsomely forked at the apex. 



The fertile frond of A. cristatum is much taller than the sterile 

 frond. The stipe is of a rich reddish brown colour ; a few large, thin, 

 pale-coloured scales may be observed on the stipe and rachis. The 

 pinnc-e are broad at the base, slightly petioled, near the lower part tri- 

 angular, the lobes divided within a little of the mid-rib, toothed, and 

 tipped with sharp points, whence the specific name cristatum is doubt- 

 less derived. In growth this fern is upright, rigid and stiff, but when in 

 full maturity has a very rich appearance, from the abundance of ripe sori. 

 These at first are pale-green, then they deepen to a dull leaden colour, 

 and finally are rich brown, abundant, but not often confluent. The 

 barren fronds are usually of a darker green than the fertile, which become 

 of a light yellowish colour towards August, and finally are rusty and 

 discoloured. The sori are ripe in August and September. 



Larger Ship:ld Fkrn. — Aspidiiini Goldianum, (Hook.) 



This is nearly allied to A. cristatiiiii, but is a much larger species, 

 more triangular in the arrangement of the long curved pinnae, of a darker 

 fuller green, less spmy and chaffy ; the blunt pinnules are slightly 

 toothed ; the large brown fruit dots are arranged in a distinct row (not 

 confluent), nearer to the mid-veins than to the margin. The pinnixj are 

 long, sometimes in fine fronds from four to six inches from the rachis 

 to the extremities, while the height of the larger fronds will be from two 

 to four feet, where the soil i.s rich and damp. Like all the Aspidiac 

 this fern is circinate in the bud ; the frond for the ensuing season being 

 green and read) to be unrolled early in June, or in warm Springs late 

 in May, protected i)y a hard scaly covering from the inclemency of the 

 Winter's cold. 



The pinnules on the divisions of a fine robust specimen of 

 Aspidiuin Go/diaiiiei/i, now before me, are twent\ -eight in number, each 

 of the largest pinnules three-quarters of an inch from the mid-rib to the 

 blunt extreme end, while there are no less than thirty-eight pairs of 



