VI.] 



ABOUT A FERN. 



105 



sufficient protection it is densely covered with thick 

 brown scales. The point from which a frond is given 

 off is called a node, the space between two nodes 



FIG. 98. 



is an intcrnodc, and it will be noted that in the 

 Bracken and Polypody these nodes are at irregular 

 distances from each other. But if we examine a 



