FILICES. 
sules ; so that there are eight species known, of which | Filices. 
port 
- Brown (Prodr. N. abit? observed 
») and 
Po somiblpieoatam, in New ttolland 
4.) ‘Schizeea, (Sm. Act. Taur. 5, tab. 9. fig. 9. Willd. 
a " ws Sp. Pl. 1950.) Pe 
Capsules oval, in two: ranks, on the back of narrow 
“7 of the summit of the frond, opening late- 
aa 
By ; oblong 
pete m that 
tinct from the ger of the series. Plukenet (Aimag. 
p. 200, tab. 95.) accounted this a yuncus, and he terms it 
Juncus capitulis pectinatis. In this he was 
Ray and Morison. The other ies, 
however, may be considered as only eieendlngiee 
ae 
are ¢ i 
ch all of them were formerly 
ey are 
fugit phie stron: anc aise @ieated och tpt doath of thi 
ha frond, or around it, when contracted into the 
form of a panicle. : : , 
833 
one, the O. regalis, only is a native of the moist woods 
of Europe. e ination of the young plants of 
the last ies was observed by Morison, and, from his 
very concise and imperfect description, it would seem 
gechebila, thet inishis process it tgatenbles Gene occ 
he O. spectabilis of North America, though at first 
considered asa variety of the O. regalis, is supposed b 
Willdenow to be a distinct apiecias, having ‘pinafules 
finely serrated. Bee he Leeeyarirmngs yd 
tion, are very ornamental, growing to the hei ve 
feet.' The O, i of Wi ow is the O. basi- 
laris of Sprengel ; and, like the O. claytoniana, bears its 
fruit towards the middle of the frond. The O, cinna~ 
momea, O, ja ica, and O. lancea, have their fruit- 
hearibig feando ditipeat! shaped from the barren ones, 
and may eventually be a distinct genus. 
The genus Osmunda, then, evidently does not bear 
its capsules on a separate spike, like the Anemia, but on 
the back of the fronds, which are changed in such a 
manner, in several of the genera, as to put on the ap-~ 
pearance only of spikes. They ap 
, therefore, 
in their general structure, to those of the rest of the se- 
ries, whose are annulated ; and to the ardour 
and diligence of Humboldt and Bonpland we owe the 
discovery of an intermediate link between the genera 
without rings, and those that have them, in 
Polybotrya, (Willd. 1953. Humboldt and Bonpland.) 
(Intermediate genus.) 
Pe pee with rings, sessile, round, aggregated in 
loose spikes. 
There is but one ies known of this truly interest- 
PR ay Be ag ce Soe Sa i dl 
many instances, of the fact, that the several links of the 
get Goin & Hc natural bodies, are now, or w 
ormerly, enacted , all we are generally 
only able to ive in that or disuni- 
ted form u which we endeavour to characterize 
them in The ferns, therefore, whose capsules 
are and those which are without rings, are 
not naturally distinct ; and therefore we ought not to 
divide them into artificial classes, but endeavour rather, 
ing the ization of indivi to. collect 
Fen ct Keren 6 beat eh 
and thus restore them, as nearly as possible, to the 
of natural affi- 
place they really occupy in the series 
nity. 
IV. POLYPODIACE®, (Puate CCLIV. Fig,14.) 
In this tribe the genera have the capsules Sen bea 
i as in all 
rounded with an elastic , which, 
the others endowed with them, bend backwards on the 
burstin 
see CCLIV. Fig. 11.) of the ripened ca 
sule, (ee sacs of the pil lg ot roe bi ca be 
ked, or at least apparently provided with no other co- 
vering than numerous hairs everywhere around them, 
Brown, however, whom it is impossible to mention 
without has in one us, hitherto 
sed to to Polypodium, demonstrated that th 
hairs are in reality the divided margin of a singular in- 
volucrum, whose capi are incurved so as 
entirely to conceal the young, and even the mature 
capsules, of the Weodsia igpatiorea and W. ilvensis, so 
that this genus must be removed to the tribe Cyathea- 
cea, (see p. $42), Whether similar involucra may not, 
some time or , be detected in: others of this very 
