109 



and occasionally beneath them in the ground, but only when the soil 

 is chiefly composed of sand and leaf-mould, so that water percolates 

 through it immediately ; whereas spinosa and multiflora are most fre- 

 quently to be met with in damp soils, and sometimes even in swamps. 

 Such opposite situations as these 1 am fully aware are quite sufficient 

 to cause a very different development of the same species; but as 

 before stated, when the whole group has been grown under precisely 

 the same conditions through a series of years, and recurva still main- 

 tains its peculiarities, it quite sets aside that hypothesis. The chief 

 distinctions are as follows; viz. : — The fronds never attain more than 

 a third the size of those of multiflora, and are invariably less than 

 those of spinosa; the colour is quite different, being a paler green, so 

 much so that you may distinguish this species a hundred yards oflf ; 

 the edges of the frond are recurved, as the name implies, somewhat 

 resembling parsley ; the fronds endure through the winter and spring, 

 — those on my plants are now fresh and green, while the fronds of 

 spinosa and multiflora had entirely disappeared by last November. 

 I would also further mention that I planted these three ferns in a ver}' 

 wet part of my garden, and found multiflora and spinosa flourish ex- 

 ceedingly, but recurva, after growing luxuriantly for some little time, 

 rotted off, which circumstance tends to establish the fact that its very 

 nature is essentially different from the others, I have only to say, in 

 conclusion, that my experience and observations have so firmly con- 

 vinced me of the distinctness of the fern in question, that I should 

 have been less surprised to have heard it asserted that Filix-mas and 

 Filix-femina were identical, with either of which it would associate 

 quite as naturally as with spinosa or multiflora. 



Richard White. 



Lyndhuvst Road, Peckbam, 

 March, 1851. 



Botanical Society of London. 



Friday, March 7, 1851. Arthur Henfrey, Esq., V.P., F.L.S., in 

 the chair. 



The following donations were announced : — 



Parts 13 and 14 of the ' Gardener's Magazine of Botany;' pre- 

 sented by the editors. Part 1 of Vol. xiv. of the 'Journal of the 

 Statistical Society of London ;' presented by the Society. ' The 

 Literary Gazette' for January and February, 1851 ; presented by the 



