FILICES. 85 



firm, strapshaped-lanceolate or triangular-lanceolate, bipinnate with 

 the pinnules pinnatipartite ; lowest pinnae somewhat uneqnal-sided 

 from the rather greater development of the 1st and 2nd pinnules on 

 the lower side of the secondary rachis ; pinnae more distant and 

 narrower than in the preceding forms. Sori rather small. 



Var. e. alpina. Moore. 



Rachis and under side of lamina sparingly glandular or nearly 

 without glands ; scales ovate-lanceolate, reddish-brown, often with- 

 out a dark central stripe. Lamina thin, oblong or oblong-strap- 

 shaped, more rarely ovate-oblong, tripinnate or bipinnate, with the 

 pinnules pinnatipartite ; lowest pinnae unequal-sided from the great 

 development of the 1st and 2nd pinnules on the lower side of the 

 secondary rachis ; pinnules shorter in proportion than in the other 

 forms. Sori rather large. 



(?) Yar. £. lepidota. Moore. 



Rachis and under side of lamina rather sparingly sprinkled with 

 stalked glands ; scales broadly lanceolate, intermixed with ovate 

 cuspidate ones, dark reddish-brown, nearly concolorous, numerous 

 not only on the stipes and main rachis, but also on the secondary and 

 tertiary rachides. Lamina deltoid or broadly triangular-ovate, quadri- 

 pinnate or tripinnate with the lower pinnules pinnatipartite ; lowest 

 pinnae unequal-sided, from the much greater development of the 

 1st and 2nd pinnules on the lower side of the secondary rachis ; 

 pinnules more separated from each other, as well as more deeply 

 divided than in the other forms. Sori small. 



Var. a common, and generally distributed in hedgebanks, woods 

 and moors, and hillsides. 



Var. /3 common in shady woods. 



Var. y common in upland districts, on moors, and among rocks 

 and stony places. 



Var. S. collinu appears to be local. Newman says it occurs in the 

 lake district in Westmoreland, Lancashire and Yorkshire. I have a 

 specimen collected by Mr. Baker on the top of Little Ingleborough, 

 and what I believe to be the same form I gathered at Hobbister 

 rocks, Orphir, Orkney. Mr. Moore's figure of his variety L. Chanteriae, 

 given in his ' Handbook of British Ferns,' so closely resembles 

 Mr. Newman's figure of collina in his ' Hist. Brit. Ferns,' that I 



