26 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



shorter as they approach the apex of the spike ; but more rarely 

 they are twice compound, and in small specimens they are all simple. 

 The sporangia are arranged along the edges of the ultimate divisions 

 of the spike, on their inner side, that is, looking towards the barren 

 frond ; they are about the size of poppy-seed or a little larger, at first 

 green, afterwards orange. The spores are pale yellowish-white, 

 roundish-trigonous, smooth, areolated. 



The var. /3 scarcely deserves mention. It differs merely in the 

 crenatures which are often present in the more common form, being 

 separated by more or less deep incisions of unequal depth, so as to 

 give a fimbriated appearance to the margins of the pinna?. 



Monstrosities occur in which the barren branch is tripartite, each 

 division resembling the ordinary barren branch of the frond. This is 

 the var. tripartitum of Moore (* Nat. Print. Brit. Ferns,' 8vo. ed. 

 vol. ii. pp. 324 and 332), which was found at Kilmashogue Hill, co. 

 Dublin, by the late Dr. Kinahan, and called by him var. cristatum. 

 I have a monstrous specimen from Southerness, Kirkcudbright, col- 

 lected by the late Sir William Jardine, in which the fertile branch is 

 tripartite, producing 3 spikes. I have another from Northumberland, 

 in which, from the side of the barren segment, a branch is produced, 

 the lower part of which is barren and the upper fertile. I have 2, one 

 from Northumberland and the other from Kirkcudbright, in which, 

 from the base of the lowest pinna of the fertile segment, a stalked 

 compound spike is produced ; and lastly, I have one from Northum- 

 berland in which sporangia are placed round the edges of the pinna? 

 of the barren segment. 



Botrychium Lunaria evidently increases by subterranean buds ; 

 but the origin of these buds has not, so far as I know, been ascer- 

 tained. In all probability they are developed at the extreme apex of 

 runner-like shoots, or in the axils of their forks. The bud so pro- 

 duced remains in a rudimentary state underneath the ground, instead 

 of springing up at once into a barren frond, and it is not until the 

 fourth year that it rises above ground, at which time both fertile and 

 barren branches are fully developed. The plant is said to appear in 

 April ; but in cultivation I have never found it do so earlier than the 

 beginning of May, and it dies off in August. If the base of the stipes 

 of the plant be cut longitudinally, it will be found to contain the 

 young frond of the ensuing year, and within this the frond for the 

 next again. This has been worked out by the late Mr. Newman, 

 whose observations were made in May 1843, and he found that each 

 frond was placed alternately, "i.e. 9 having laid all the specimens 

 before me with the fruit on the right-hand and the leafy portion on 

 the left, then the frond for 1844 invariably had the fruit on the left 

 and the leafy portion on the right ; the frond for 1845 appearing to 

 be again reversed, having the fruit on the right and the leafy portion 

 on the left." (Newman, 'Brit. Ferns,' ed. iii. p. 316.) 



There is not the slightest reason for thinking that the Moonwort 



