COMB-FERNS. 349 



fertile ones nearly twice as long, and only half as broad, 

 with two rows of very large, round sori beneath, like 

 strings of golden beads. Plilebodium lycopodioides, 

 again, on a root-stock of the hairy caterpillar type, 

 has leaves elegantly spindle-shaped, and the seed- 

 beads separated, a different but equally attractive 

 species ; while Oleandra nodosa, with a similar root- 

 stock, red and shaggy, has pointed leaves closely re- 

 sembling, in size, form, and colour, those of the elegant 

 oleander, and the seed-masses scattered in minute dots. 

 These all have entire fronds ; but there are also the 

 species belonging to the beautiful genus Nephrolepis, 

 which have the climbing habit, whose fronds, long 

 and narrow, have the pinnae set at right angles, like 

 the teeth of a comb ; as N. exaltata, for instance, 

 whose lovely green leaves, extending to a length of 

 four or even five feet, with a width of three inches, 

 carry each a hundred and twenty pairs of leaflets, set 

 in the most perfect symmetry. N. pectinata has still 

 narrower leaves, and more numerous pinnae. Viewed 

 from beneath, as the very elegant fronds arch out 

 from the supporting tree, these ferns have a singular 

 appearance, for the mid-rib is quite concealed by the 

 bases of the pinnae ; and these having each a sort of 

 ear-like projection on the anterior side, the alternation 

 of these swellings, wrapping over the central rib, 

 imparts a curious waved form to the dividing line ; 

 while the double lines of seed-dots on the pinnae beyond 

 the middle of the series greatly augment the elegance 

 of these very lovely Ferns. 



