62 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Yar. ft, common in woods and busby places, more rarely in open 

 ground, but generally distributed. 



Yar. y, in open ground and woods, common and probably generally 

 distributed, extending nortb to Orkney, where I have seen it at 

 Pamsdale, Orphir, and in Firth. 



Yar. 8, apparently rare, and according to Mr. Moore " it seems con- 

 fined to North Wales and to alpine localities," Snowdon (Mr. D. 

 Cameron), and Llysgwyn (Mr. S. 0. Gray). I have a specimen from 

 Teesdale, collected by the late Mr. A. 0. Black ; this is named abbre- 

 viate but it is not the plant intended by me under that name. 

 Probably some of the stations for abbreviata belong to what I regard 

 as pumila. The plant growing in Scalpa Bay seems to be Moore's 

 crispa, which I refer to pumila. Yar. subintegra, Moore, I have not 

 seen, but judging from descriptions, it must be referred to pumil 'a ; it 

 was gathered at Ennis, county Clare, Ireland. 



Yar. e, apparently scarce. Langdale (Mr. Gr. B. Wollaston) ; 

 Borrowdale, Cumberland (Mr. R. D. Harrison), judging from plate 

 of abbreviata cristata of Lowe's ' Native Ferns.' Ashurst Park, 

 Tunbridge Wells (Mrs. Bolland), judging from figure 188 of Lowe's 

 * Native Ferns.' 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer, Autumn. 



Yery variable in size, according to its place of growth. Yar. a has 

 a stout caudex, with a few short decumbent divisions about the thick- 

 ness of a man's wrist ; the fronds are 9 inches to 3 feet high, by 3 to 

 8 inches wide ; the stipes is stout (in large specimens the size of a goose- 

 quill), 3 to 7 inches long, and contains at least 5 vascular bundles, 

 generally 7, and near the base often a greater number. The sori 

 occupy the apical half or two-thirds of the frond. Pachis unrolling in 

 advance of the pinnae, the apex of the frond hanging down like a 

 shepherd's crook, afterwards becoming erect. 



Yar. ft is probably merely a nemoral form of var. a ; it grows to 

 a much larger size, often 4 or 5 feet high, or even more, by 9 to 15 

 inches broad, or even more. The stipes is 6 inches to 1 foot long. 

 The texture of the frond is thinner, more shining, and is less rigid 

 than var. a ; the pinnules are more separated, more tapering, much 

 more strongly serrate or incised, and often those near the base of the 

 lower pinnae are pinnatifid or pinnatipartite, with the divisions again 

 serrate. The indusia, however, are rather smaller if not absolutely 

 at least comparatively, and the sori are generally less numerous, not 

 occupying such a large jmrt of the apical portion of the frond. The 

 spores of the specimens I have examined are smaller, and with less 

 elevated tubercles. 



