44 



the branch veins, but they are very irregular in form, being some- 

 times straight, and in other instances so short as to appear nearly 

 circular, although the curved reniform or semilunar outline is the 

 most common : in some varieties they are distant, in others so close 

 as to become eventually confluent, even to completely covering the 

 under surface. Such differences have afforded a wide scope for 

 speculative botanists to indulge their fancies in the multiplication 

 of species and varieties, and were the wishes and advice of all my 

 kind correspondents to be attended to in regard to the latter, I 

 might exhaust the Greek alphabet from alpha to omega in prefixes. 

 The claim advanced on behalf of a few of the varieties to rank as 

 species, should be very cautiously examined before its admission ; 

 those who recommend or incline to their adoption would do well 

 to bear in mind the plasticity of vegetable nature, and the very 

 uncertain tenure of specific distinction in the aggregate, not in this 

 class only, but in groups far higher in grade, and in which features 

 of more determinate character can be arraigned in evidence of sup- 

 posed dissimilarity. The three principal forms, including the 

 normal one, that are considered best entitled to the rank in question 

 are thus characterized : 



1. incisum. Fronds more or less drooping, broadly lanceolate : 

 pinna? distant : pinnules lanceolate, distinct, flat, pinnatifid with 

 toothed lobes. Sori distinct. A. Filix-foemina, Roth. 



2. inolle. Fronds nearly erect, lax, lanceolate : pinnse approxi- 

 mate : pinnules oblong, connected by the wing of the midrib, flat, 

 toothed. Sori distinct. A. molle, Roth. 



3. convexum. Fronds nearly erect, rigid, narrow-lanceolate : 

 pinnae distant, convex : pinnules distant, linear, toothed or pinna- 

 tifid, convex, with deflexed margins. Sori short, numerous, even- 

 tually confluent. A. rhseticum, Roth. Moore, Handb. 136. As- 

 pidium irriguum ? Smith. E. B. 2199. This is, unquestionably, 

 the most decidedly charactered of all the forms, and less positively 

 associated with them by intermediates. 



Besides the numerous slight variations in habit, and in the out- 

 line and division of the frond, several remarkable monstrosities are 

 met with in cultivation ; of these the variety crlspum is the most 

 common, and its dwarf, clustered, and much-divided fronds resemble 

 a tuft of curled parsley a figure of one of the fronds is given by 

 Mr. Moore, Handb. 142. It was originally found by Mr. A. Smith, 

 on Orah Hill, Antrim, Ireland, and since by Sir W. C. Trevelyan, 

 in Braemar, Scotland. Another Irish variety, still more peculiar, 

 is given by Mr. Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 218. 



The cultivation of the Lady-Fern is not attended with any diffi- 

 culty, as it will grow in almost any kind of light soil, provided the 

 situation be not too dry or exposed to the sun. To obtain it in its 

 beauty, however, it should be planted in a mixture of turfy peat 



