116 FILICES 
4. Woopsta (Woddsia). 
1. Round-leaved or Alpine Woodsia (//.. alpina).—Fronds pinnate; 
the pinne pinnatifid, hairy beneath ; clusters of spore-cases solitary at first, 
afterwards mingling in one mass. The only two native species of this genus 
of Ferns are both very rare plants. They have some peculiarities which 
readily distinguish them from any others. ‘Their indusia, instead of covering 
the clusters of spore-cases, as in other genera, are attached beneath them, 
enclosing them while young, but tearing as they grow older into numerous 
little chaffy segments, which look like tufts of slender hairs placed around 
the clusters. This little fern grows in tufts; its fronds never more than 
two or three inches in height, and more commonly about an inch high. It 
is only to be found growing in fissures of alpine rocks, mostly in places 
rarely visited. It has been seen on Snowdon and Ben Lawers, and also in 
the Glen of the Dole, Clova, and other places of the Eastern Highlands. Its 
stalk is very slender and smooth, only that a few small scattered hairs 
and scales may be seen upon it at an early period of its growth. The frond 
is long, narrow, almost linear, and pinnate. The pinnz are perfectly distinct, 
and sometimes distant from each other, obtusely triangular, and lobed, and 
they are usually alternate on each side of the rachis; those at the lower 
part of the frond being generally farther from each other than the higher 
leaflets. 'The upper surface is nearly smooth, but a few minute hairs are 
scattered along the margin and under surface. The veining is not a very 
marked feature of the species. There-is no distinct mid-vein, but small 
veins branch into each lobe, not quite reaching the margin of the leaflet. At 
the extremity of these veins are placed the clusters of capsules, which soon 
form a crowded mass. The frond is of a brownish-green colour ; the roots 
black, wiry, and branched; and the underground stem very large in pro- 
portion to the frond. Many botanists consider that this species and the 
next should be united, as they doubt if there is any specific difference 
between them. ‘This fern is also known as Voodsia hyperborea. 
2, Oblong Woodsia, or Ray’s Woodsia (//’. ilvénsis).—Fronds 
lanceolate or oblong, pinnate, hairy beneath. This species grows on the 
most elevated and bleak mountainous places, among the fissures of rocks. 
It has been found on Clogwynn-y-Garnedd, Snowdon, and Llynn-y-ewn, on 
Glyder Vawr, Wales; on the Clova mountains, Scotland; as well as in 
Durham, where Mr. Backhouse found it growing at the base of some basaltic 
rocks on the Durham side of the river Tees, about 200 yards below Cauldron 
Snout. It is said also to have been found formerly in Westmoreland, where 
a single frond was gathered from the old walls of Crosby Ravensworth 
Church; but these walls have now been taken down. ‘The fronds of this 
species are about two or three inches high, and are covered on both sides 
with shining hairs, which are, however, on the upper surface invisible to the 
naked eye. The clusters of spore-cases lie among these, on the under surface, 
and are almost hidden by them. <A few chaffy scales are scattered on the 
stalk, and this has a joint at a short distance from its base, at about three- 
quarters of an inch from the point at which it joins the rhizome—a character 
