95S 



densely crowded and tvipinnated, lobes of the pinnae linear Wunt. Rachis winged, 

 short. Receptacles two or three times longer than the involucra. Root thick densely 

 tomentose. Habitat, Turk, Killarney ; Glouin Caragh ; Mount Eagle, Kerry.' 



" Mr. Andrews further observes, that ' the striking character of the Glouin Caragh 

 plant is the amazing length of the receptacles, which, in the growing state of the plant, 

 turn up from the involucra in a curved manner [see figure a on the preceding page] show- 

 ing a most bristly appearance over the entire frond : all the fronds presented the lan- 

 ceolate character, the lower pinnae being distant and short ; the ultimate segments of 

 all the pinnae are serrated, the pinnules being decurrent and running to a point ; the 

 entire length of the frond was sixteen inches, and from the base of the lowest pinnae to 

 the apex of the frond eleven inches.' 



" In opposition to the views expressed by these three eminent botanists, I will cite 

 that of Mr. Moore, who says, ' I think the new Trichomanes to be nothing more than 

 the old plant fully developed, and more attenuated in all its parts, and that this is 

 caused by the dark warm habitat in which it grew. In order to prove whether the old 

 plant could not be altered by being subjected to a different kind of treatment, I had a 

 good healthy pot placed under the stage of a green-house, where it got very little light, 

 and over the glass a piece of old carpet was thrown which was kept constantly satu- 

 rated with water, so that I considered the plant placed nearly in a similar position to 

 that in which the new plant was found, I soon found that the fronds might be length- 

 ened to an almost incredible extent, and that they became more simple in their 

 appearance ; in both these respects well agreeing with the plant discovered by Mr. 

 Andrews.' No fruit has been produced, so that it remains a question whether the re- 

 ceptacle also can be elongated by this treatment. Mr. Ogilby, of Dublin, whose name 

 I have before mentioned as a kind contributor of specimens, seems quite to coincide 

 in Mr. Moore's view of the case. 



" In accordance with the views previously urged, when describing Cystopteris fra- 

 gilis and Lastraea multiflora, I have endeavoured to compare the most mature and per- 

 fect fronds from each locality, and the result appears to be 1st, — that the specimens 

 from Glouin Caragh are far more mature and fruitful than those from Killarney : it is 

 a rare thing to obtain specimens from the latter station in a thoroughly mature state ; 

 I think I may say that not one frond in fifty exhibits involucres, and not one in many 

 hundreds attains the perfect development and fruitfulness displayed by the Glouin 

 Caragh plant: but 2ndly — I find that the most mature of the Killarney specimens 

 most recede from the Glouin Caragh specimens, a circumstance rather opposed to the 

 supposition that the two are identical, since in general we find ferns developing their 

 specific diflferences more strikingly as they approach perfection. Srdly — The length 

 of receptacle is another test of perfection : the Killarney plant, grown at Killarney, 

 has a receptacle of very different length ; in the most perfect specimens it is at least 

 four times as long as the involucre, in the least perfect it scarcely protrudes beyond 

 the involucre, and under cultivation it is seldom to be seen at all, thus evidently pro- 

 claiming that its length in some measure depends on health, maturity, and a conge- 

 nial situation. Willdenow, in the passage cited, describes the receptacle as four times 

 the length of the involucre ; and I cannot assert either that its frequent departure from 

 this character at Killarney proves anything more than that such departure is a testi- 

 mony of imperfection, or its attaining this character at Glouin Caragh is to be attri- 

 buted to any other causes than congenial situation. The form of frond may be capa- 

 ble, as Mr. Moore asserts, of great elongation, but there is no evidence that the rela- 



