48 



drooping or even spreading horizontally. The rachis is more or 

 less covered with bristle-like scales. The general outline of the 

 frond varies from linear-lanceolate to a broader and more directly 

 lanceolate form, and in some, specimens it is nearly triangular: the 

 pinna? and pinnules are equally variable, and the former are often, 

 and not in young plants only, lobed instead of pinnate ; the ultimate 

 divisions in either case are deeply and sharply toothed or serrated, 

 a branch of the lateral veins extending to the extremity of each 

 serrature. The sori are remarkable, compared with those of other 

 species of the genus, both as to form and position ; they are produced 

 near the. terminations of the branch veins, usually one to each ser- 

 rature,, and are at first, while yet covered by their thin white indu- 

 siurn, oblong or even linear, but become circular as they enlarge, 

 and eventually often confluent, so as to form a line round the whole 

 under-margin : their arrangement in luxuriant specimens is very 

 irregular. When the frond approaches the triangular outline, this 

 fern is apt to be mistaken for the following species, A. Adiantum- 

 nigrum, the peculiarity of the sori constituting the most marked 

 differential character between them. 



Like other maritime species of ferns, natural importations from 

 a warmer climate, the Lanceolate Spleenwort is not at all adapted 

 for cultivation in the open air in the eastern parts of England ; this 

 may be understood by noticing the limited extent of its distribution 

 here, reaching, it is true along the whole southern coast from the 

 Land's End to Kent, and along the western as far north as Caer- 

 narvonshire ; but still confined to localities influenced by the great 

 current and swell of the Atlantic, and chiefly to those so situated 

 as to receive their continuous flow, the counties between the Chan- 

 nel and the estuary of the Severn. A treatment similar to that 

 recommended for the last species, A. fontanum, I have found to 

 succeed the best hitherto, except that it makes less root, and does 

 not require so large a pot in proportion to the size of the plant. 

 Another circumstance to be noted is, that it is very susceptible of 

 injury under close confinement, and consequently not adapted for 

 the Wardian cases. From observation of several plants placed 

 under different conditions, I believe this injury to the fern in ques- 

 tion to arise from the accumulation of water on the surface of the 

 fronds : breathing a moist atmosphere, it must be admitted, is very 

 distinct from drowning, and to the latter process the moisture- 

 loving fern is too frequently subjected by the mismanagement of 

 a very useful invention. In Nature, superfluous moisture is re- 

 moved quickly by evaporation, and although some plants are capable 

 of adapting their functions according to the circumstances in which 

 they may be placed, others are less pliant, and our Asplenium is 

 one to which a perpetual vapour-bath is death. Under all its forms 

 it is ornamental, and, like most of its congeners, evergreen. 



