POLYPODIUM rilEGOrXERIS. » 



Veius slender, thin, and flexuous, with alternate unbranclicd 

 veinlets. Sori naked, circular, and sub-marginal; the spore- 

 cases minute, and pale bro\^Tiish in colour. Spores ovate. 



Rhizoma perennial, dark in colour, thin and creeping; roots 

 black and fibrous. 



I believe only one variety has been discovered of this 

 interesting species, P. phegopteris keeping very constant to its 

 normal form. The variety mentioned "was found by myself in 

 great abundance in 1857, near Stockghyll Force, Ambleside, 

 clothing the bank of a wet shady lane. In this varietj' the 

 form or general outline of the frond resembles that of the 

 normal phegopteris, the distinctive feature being in the irregular 

 multifid lobes; and occasionally in the apices of the pinnaj 

 being also nudtifid. This variety, under the name of imdtijidum, 

 has been described on page 83 of my "Xatiual History of 

 New and Rare Ferns." 



Should any of my readers visit that lovely portion of the 

 English lake district near Ambleside, a short walk from the 

 principal Inn will bring them to the lovely narrowly-confined 

 waterfall knowTi as Stockghyll Force, and at a brief distance 

 to the right they will be repaid by •witnessing the Beech 

 Fern growing in the wildest profusion, clothing the banks in 

 company with the Oak Fern, Lady Fern, and Common 

 Polypody; whilst in the fields beyond, if in early summer, 

 the beauty of the delicate pink Primula farinosa, with its 

 silvery-powdered leaves and flower-stalks, intermingled with 

 the purple butterwort, and the wavy snow-white heads of the 

 cotton-grass, adds other charms to the spot. 



