FILICES. . 115 



modified by a firm and persistent indusium ; the spores also are 

 darker coloured and conspicuously tuberculate, in this respect very 

 different from the yellow, nearly smooth, spores of A. Filix-foemina 

 vars. a and /3; but in A. Filix-fcemina var. Watsoni the spores show 

 some approximation towards those of A. eu-alpestre. 



The great majority of botanists place the present plant in the genus 

 Polypodium or in the genus Phegopteris when they separate the latter 

 from the former. The late Mr. E. Newman founded the genus 

 Pseudathyrium upon it, but I think there is no doubt that Milde is 

 right in placing it in the genus Athyrium, with which it agrees in 

 every character except in the round naked sori ; but then in several 

 abnormal forms of A. Filix-fcemina the sori are round and naked, or 

 with an imperfectly developed indusium, and in some otherwise 

 ordinary forms of the same Fern the indusium falls away early, and 

 the sori become round. On the other hand, in the very early stages 

 of A. alpestre a rudimentary indusium may be found at least occa- 

 sionally. The disposition of the curved vascular bundles of the petiole 

 is precisely similar in the two plants, as well as their mode of growth, 

 vernation, and venation. I myself have doubts whether A. alpestre 

 should not be considered as merely a subspecies of A. Filix-fuemina. 

 (See Duval Juve in ' Annot. Fl. de Fr. et d'All.,' pub. par 0. Billot, 

 pp. 57 and 149 to 151.) 



Alpine Lady-fern. 



Subspecies (?) II.— Athyrium flexile. 



A. alpestre var. flexile, Milde, Fil. Europ. p. 53. 



Pseudathyrium flexile, Newm. Phyt. 1853, p. 974; and Hist. Brit. Ferus, ed. iii. p. 201. 



Phegopteris flexilis, J. Smith, Hist. Fil. p. 233. 



Polypodium flexile, Moore, Handb. Brit. Ferns, ed. ii. p. 225. Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. 



vii. p. 445. 

 P. alpestre, var. flexile, Moore, Handb. Brit. Furns, ed. iii. p. 59 ; and Nat. Print. Ferns, 



8vo. ed. vol. i. p. 76. Hook. & Baker, Syn. Fil. ed. ii. p. 311. 

 P. alpestre, (3. pumile, Hook. & Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 581 ; and Hook. fil. Stud. Fl 



ed. ii. p. 498. 



Caudex stout, erect or oblique, closely covered by the bases of 

 former fronds, dividing into several divisions or crowns, which remain 

 closely packed together. Fronds several from each crown arranged 

 shuttlecock-fashion, dying in autumn. Stipes rather stout, bent back- 

 wards and thickened immediately above the base, nearly flat on the 

 anterior face, very short, often reduced merely to the enlarged portion 

 above the base, and rarely more than one-eighth the length of the 

 lamina, rather thickly clothed throughout with ovate and lanceolate 

 pale brown scales, intermingled with hair-like ones, most of which 

 are deciduous. Lamina spreading or spreading-ascendjng, strap- 



Q 2 



