THE COMMON BUCKLER FERN 43 



laminse at the crown of the root (the bases of the future 

 stalks) and, adding a third portion of malt, brew from 

 them a kind of beer. In times of great scarcity they 

 mix them with their bread. Cut green and dried in 

 the air, this Fern, like the Bracken, is used in Westmor- 

 land and Cumberland as litter for the cattle ; and if 

 steeped in hot water would, it is said by the bishop, 

 be a not despised but readily-eaten and fattening food 

 for the cattle as well as the Norwegians. The young 

 erosier-like stems were of old, called St. John's hand 

 or " lucky hands," considered to be preservative from 

 witchcraft. 



VARIETIES. 

 paleacea, Common. 

 abbreviata, Common. 



erosa, Keswick, Miss Wright ; Troutbeck, P. Clowes. 



1 cristata, Borrowdale, J. D. Harrison. 



interrupta, Windermere, F. Clowes. 



Pinderi, Elterwater, Miss Beevor. 

 Clowesii, Troutbeck, F. Clowes. 

 Barnesii, Levens, J. M. Barnes. 

 'digitata, Burton, J. Jones. 

 grandiceps, Burton, Wearing. 

 excurrens, Ravenscar, J. A. M artindale. 

 attenuato-multifida, Mardale, J. M. Barnes. 

 crispata, Levens, J. M. Barnes. 

 multiformis, Long Sleddale, J. M. Barnes. 

 pulchra, Mardale, J. M. Barnes. 

 stricta, Mardale, J. M. Barnes. 

 serrata, Burton, J. Jones. 

 producta, Arnside, J. Crossfield. 



