66 FERNS OF THE LAKE COUNTKY 



next neighbours, the Athyriums, they are known by the 

 latter having hippocrepiform (or horse-shoe shaped) sori 

 and the free margins of the indusia fringed, while in 

 the Aspleniums the sori are not curved, and the mar- 

 gins of the indusia are but slightly jagged, if not quite 

 entire. The Spleenworts, too, are evergreen ; while 

 the Lady Fern is deciduous. There are nine British 

 species of ASPLENIUM fontanum, lanceolatum, Adian- 

 tutn-nigrum, marinwn, Trichomanes, viride, Euta- 

 muraria, germanicum, and septentrionale. Of these, 

 A. fontanum and A. lanceolatum do not belong to the 

 Lake District, though there is a tradition of the former 

 having inhabited Wythburn (found there by Hudson, 

 about 1775) Tintil exterminated by the " greed of col- 

 lectors." Let the race take heed ! 



The Black Maiden-hair Spleenwort is an evergreen, 

 growing in tufts, and varying in height from three or 

 four inches to eighteen or more, including the stipes, 

 which is often as long as or longer than the leafy 

 portion, except in stunted specimens. The stipes is of 

 a shining dark purple. The fronds are either erect or 

 drooping, according to situation, of a thick leathery 

 texture, triangular, more or less elongated toward the 

 point, bipinnate, sometimes tripinnate ; the pinnae pin- 

 nate, triangular-ovate and elongated at the point, the 

 lower pair longer than the next above them ; the pin- 

 nules, especially on the larger pinnas, again pinnate, 

 the alternate pinnules deeply lobed and the margins 

 sharply serrated. The veins are numerous, each pin- 

 nule having its distinct midvein, branching into simple 

 or farther-branching veins, on which the sori are pro. 



