BRITISH FERNS. 



39 



The frond in the above cut, marked A, rather interrupts the 

 series, from its remarkably elongate and linear form, and from 

 having its pinnae placed at right angles, or nearly so, with the 

 rachis : in the division of the pinnae it presents no remarkable 

 characters. I am indebted to Mr. H. Doubleday, of Epping, for 

 specimens of this plant ; the effect of cultivation has not, in this 

 instance, been ascertained. 



All the fronds and pinnae represented above would be placed 

 by Sir J. E. Smith in his species Aspidium lobatum. The pinnae 

 d, 0, andyj are carefully copied from central pinnae of three fronds, 

 so named in the Smithian Herbarium, and the fronds e and / are 

 drawn from living fronds, which precisely agree with the dried 

 ones, from which the pinnae marked with the same letters are 

 copied ; g is a pinna from a frond less divided than /, and Ji a 

 seedling frond, found in company with the fronds e and/; a pinna 

 is detached to show more clearly its spiny appearance. Smith 

 describes lobatum as having the fronds narrower, and the pinnae 

 shorter, than aculeatum. " The pinnae are also more crowded, 

 especially at the base, where the foremost pinnula of each lower- 

 most pair lies close to the midrib, and is much larger than any 

 of the others." 



The colour of this variety is a brighter lighter green than 

 angulare, and the upper surface much more glabrous ; but these, 

 as well as the characters pointed out by Sir J. E. Smith, gradu- 

 ally disappear with cultivation, and in a few years are wholly 

 obliterated. 



