96 



dry. T must not be supposed to say that they were absohitely dry, 

 for that would be impossible iu such a district, influenced as it is 

 daily by the tides, which are perceptible as high as Norwich. 



Lastrea spinom grows in the same Broad, but is of small size. 



Lastrea uUginosa. When in London last week I saw a small plant 

 of this questionable species at Kennedy's Bedford Conservatory, in 

 Covent Garden : it certainly has an appearance intermediate between 

 cristata and spinosa, yet I am inclined to agree with the Rev, W. T. 

 Bree, that it is only a variety of the latter species. What struck me 

 the most in the solitary frond that I saw, was the thin, rigid character 

 which it presented, similar to that in barren fronds of Lastrea recurva, 

 the small size of the sori, and the greater width of the pinnules, com- 

 pared with those of spinosa. These conditions (the two last certainly) 

 might, I think, be produced on plants of L. spinosa by keeping them 

 in a very shaded spot, and supplying them liberally with water. My 

 friend the fen-man, whose boat I engaged when searching for L. cris- 

 tata, took me to a place where he said that for many years he had 

 observed a large bunch of ferns : these ferns had grown at the root of 

 an alder-tree which had been cut down, not rooted up, about two 

 years ago : some half dozen sickly fronds remained, which, with their 

 small sori and dilated pinnules, very much resembled, except in not 

 being rigid, the frond of uliginosa that I saw in London. I have 

 referred to the resemblance between the barren fronds of L. recurva 

 and 'those of uliginosa, that is, as to texture . Now we know that 

 recurva affects damp and shaded localities, and hence I think we may 

 be justified in concluding that such conditions are not at least preju- 

 dicial or opposed to, if they are not indeed favourable to, the produc- 

 tion of that state of rigidity which characterizes the supposed species 

 now under consideration. T will readily admit that this last argument 

 is somewhat forced, and does not satisfactorily prove that rigidity 

 combined with thin texture of the parenchyme is dependant on an 

 excess of shade or moisture, but it must be borne in mind that 1 only 

 contend that such conditions are not antagonistic to such a state. 

 Hence with my present amount of knowledge of facts and descriptions 

 relative to this plant, 1 must subscribe myself an unbeliever in its 

 specific identity. 



Lastrea recurva. This, to me the most beautiful and lovely, as 

 well as the most distinct, of our indigenous ferns, grows in great 

 abundance around Clovelly, in Devonshire, extending nearly to Hols- 

 worthy, which is about ten miles inland. 1 know not whether this 

 species is considered maritime, or whether its range extends indiffe- 



