128 THE FERN PARADISE. 



the frond, and gradually diminish in length as they 

 reach the extreme point of the branch, until they 

 terminate in a point In fine specimens of the 

 Bracken, the leaflets on the side branches of the 

 frond are again divided this time into lobes, 

 which are arranged in pairs on the rib of the 

 leaflet. The lobes are narrow, and oblong in 

 shape, with broad bases and bluntish tops, each 

 lobe at the base of the branches at the lower 

 portion of the frond being distinct that is to say, 

 disconnected from the lobes on each side of it ; 

 but towards the tips of the lower branches, and on 

 all the branches at the highest part of the frond, 

 the division between the lobes on each leaflet is 

 not carried down to the rib of the leaflet, which in 

 such a case presents somewhat the appearance of 

 a double-edged saw. At the backs, and along the 

 margins of the lobes of the Bracken, lie the spores 

 in countless myriads, covered by a thin leaf-skin, 

 and arranged in rounded lines; at first in colour 

 of a whitish green, but becoming, as autumn 

 arrives, a rich golden brown. Then the skin-cases 

 which cover these infinitesimal germs of fern life 



