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kindness of Mr. Bennett, and 1 have watched with intense interest the 

 unfolding of the fronds and the full development of the characters 

 previously observed. 



Daring this period of uncertainty, I received a collection of ferns 

 from Mr. Purchas, of Ross, accompanied by numerous explanatory 

 manuscript notes, kindly placed at my disposal for the forthcoming 

 edition of the ' British Ferns.' Among these is the following : — 



" Lastrea dilatala, Presl. — I had supposed this quite distinct from 

 the preceding [L. spinosa, Newm.l, until I met with a plant to be 

 mentioned next. * * * This seems to me nearly intermediate be- 

 tween L. dilatata and L. spinosa, unless it should prove distinct from 

 either. Of this curious plant you will find one or two fronds, from the 

 only tuft yet found. * * * I need say nothing on such points as 

 can be ascertained from dry specimens, but you may perhaps pardon 

 my mentioning one or two points which are only evident in the fresh 

 plant. I will premise that the root is evidently a very old one, — 

 indeed you will perceive this from the fronds sent, — and consequently 

 the characters afforded by the fronds may be relied on as those of a 

 fully-developed plant. The most tangible peculiarity seems to be the 

 great abundance of glands, which render the living stipes and rachis 

 quite rough to the touch, and densely cover the under surface of the 

 pinnules ; they were equally present on some young plants growing 

 close around the large one, from whose spores they had apparently 

 originated. The pinnules of the lower part of the fronds, which 

 shaded each other, were flat as in ordinary L. spinosa, but those of 

 the upper part, which was more exposed to light, were strongly con- 

 vex, yet not as those of L. dilatata, which grew close by and looked 

 strikingly different. I find that the pinnules of L. spinosa, when 

 removed to a sunny situation, acquire the same kind of convexity, 

 though in a less degree. Another peculiarity, as I deemed it, was 

 that the lower row of pinnules in the pinnae of the upper portion of 

 the frond, instead of being in the same plane with the rachis, like the 

 upper row, were curved upward, at an angle of 45° with it, so as to 

 exhibit the fruit when the frond was viewed in front. 1 have not 

 seen young involucres ; in their advanced state they seem to me glan- 

 dulose at the margin." 



On reading these remarks, I immediately examined the living 

 specimen, and found Mr. Purchas's statement as to the glands per- 

 fectly correct. I next examined the nascent fronds of old and un- 

 doubted specimens of Lastrea multiflora, and these I generally found 

 to be without glands. I now felt convinced that the description which 

 Vol. IV. 2 l 



