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between A. spinulosum and what are here considered varieties, we 

 have little to add, although we have not failed to reconsider the sub- 

 ject fully. No one has studied the ferns with a candid and unbiassed 

 mind, but must be satisfied that uniformity of opinion as regards the 

 due limitation of their species is not to be looked for among botanists. 

 In the present instance, we believe the conclusions to be drawn from 

 a careful investigation of A. spinulosum and its allies would be as va- 

 rious as the individuals who examine them. One state of the plant, 

 however, we are here desirous to notice, from the great discussion it 

 has occasioned in some of the periodical journals, namely, Aspidium 

 dilatatum, var. recurvum, of Bree in ' Loud. Mag. Nat. Hist.,' vol. iv. 

 p. 163, cum. ic: Lastrea recurva of Mr. Newman, in ' British Ferns,' 

 1844, p. 226. We find no specific character in the latter work ; but 

 this deficiency is compensated by Mr. Babington, who (' Man. of 

 Brit. Botany,' ed. 2, p. 411), under the name Lastrea Foenisecii, thus 

 distinguishes it : ' Frond triangular bipinnate, pinnules pinnate or 

 pinnatifid, segments serrate spinose-mucronate, indusium jagged at 

 the edge, stipes clothed with long narrow laciniated concolorous 

 scales;' and he further adds in the description— ' frond elongate-tri- 

 angular concave above, the lower pinnae much the largest. A smaller 

 plant than the two preceding. — Damp places.' — Sufficiently corre- 

 sponding with this, we have now before us the Cornish specimens 

 from Mr. Bree and Irish ones from Mr. Wilson, besides a living plant 

 cultivated in the Royal Gardens of Kew, under the name of ' Lastrea 

 recurva' Newm.\ these, too, tolerably accord with the figure above 

 quoted of Loudon, especially in the scarcely spinulose teeth ; but they 

 are more compact in the pinnules, and the rachis and frond beneath 

 have rather copious very minute spherical glands. We cannot say 

 much in favour of the figure of Lastrea recurva (under the name of 

 ' Bree's Fern ') of Mr. Newman, p. 225, which has a very lax habit, 

 with distant pinnules, and moreover (being stated to be ' one-fouith 

 of the nat. size,' and, though folded, yet occupying the entire 8vo. 

 page) must be a large plant, — nearly 4 feet high including the stipes. 

 We have also a plant of Dr. Lippold's ' Plant. Exsicc. of Madeira,' 

 marked ' Nephrodium Foenisecii a. Lowe Prodr. ;' and probably Mr. 

 Babington adopted the name from Dr. Lippold's specimens. These 

 we are disposed to include under our var. 7. of spinulosum. But we 

 have now to consider the Nephrodium Fcenisecii of Mr. Lowe him- 

 self: ' N. fronde triangulari vel ovata, 3 — 4 pinnatifida, utrinque gla- 

 bra: laciniis (tertii 4-tique ordinis) oblongis, obtusis ; ultinais incisis 

 mucronato-serratis ; omnium inferioribus exterioribus internis oppo- 



