836 



of its appearance, we may briefly state that in addition to the calen- 

 dar, length of day, and the rising and setting of the sun and moon, 

 the days and hours of meeting of the various scientific societies 

 of the metropolis are regularly specified, together with short notices 

 of the arrival and departure of birds, the flowering of plants, the ap- 

 pearance of insects, and other interesting remarks relating to Natural 

 History. But the principal feature in the present year's almanack is 

 the best and most compendious descriptive list of the British ferns and 

 their allies that w^e have yet met with. In the nomenclature of this 

 list we observe several departures from that adopted by Mr. Babing- 

 ton in his ' Manual of British Botany.' For instance, in the Equise- 

 tums the nomenclature and arrangement proposed by Mr. Newman in 

 our own pages are followed. In the ferns we find some striking no- 

 velties. Among these is a full description of the involucre of Pteris : 

 we quote the entire character of that genus. 



"Pteris, Linnem. — Mid-vein distinct, lateral veins anastomosing at margin 

 -forming a marginal vein. Involucre attached to inner side of marginal vein, linear, 

 its margin split into capillary segments ; capsules attached in a linear series to margi- 

 nal vein, exterior to involucre; epidermis prolonged bleached reflexed split into capil- 

 lary segments and covering capsules in the manner of an involucre." — p. 11. 



The second point to be noticed appears at first sight to be a daring 

 innovation; on reflection, however, we feel inclined to admit it as be- 

 ing a more natural arrangement than the old one. We allude to the 

 removal from the genus Polypodium of the species Dryopteris, calca- 

 reum and Phegopteris, thus leaving Polypodium vulgare as the only 

 British representative of its genus. The three rejected species, toge- 

 ther with Oreopteris and Thelypteris, form in the list the first division 

 of Bory's genus, Lastrsea, characterized by having the " Clusters of 

 capsules on all branches of lateral veins," not on the anterior branch 

 only, as in Polypodium and Lastraea proper. The next thing we 

 shall notice is that the three plants Lastrsea spinosa, dilatata and re- 

 curva are raised to the rank of species, and as such now described for 

 the first time in an English work. We quote the descriptions. 



" 9. X. spinosa (Roth). Lastrcea dilatata linear type Newm 61 fig. Bab 386. Rhi- 

 zoma very stout, slowly but extensively creeping ; stem as long as frond, clothed spar- 

 ingly except at the base with broad rounded pale brotvn diaphanous scales; frond nearly 

 erect, elongate linear pinnate, pinna rather distant (1 — 8 pairs of equal length, the 

 lower pair neither longer nor shorter than the rest) winged pinnate ; pinnules at the base 

 of pinnae separated from the midrib by a deep notch, toward the apex of pinnae decur- 

 rent all lobed, the lobes serrated and spined ; divisions at apex of frond narrow, their 

 terminations acute, all divisions of frond fiat ; involucre nearly circular, its margins 

 waved not torn nor furnished u'ith teeth or stalked glands ; clusters of capsules circular 



