174< HISTOKY OF BRITISH FERNS. 



dusia, whilst the lobes of the barren fronds are serrated ; their 

 texture- is thin and membranaceous, their surface smooth, 

 their colour a cheerful green. The stipes, which is about 

 half as long as the frond, and furnished with a few small 

 scales at the base, is black and shining, as also are the 

 rachides, the ultimate ramifications of which are small and 

 hair-like. 



The veins throughout the pinnules are forked on a di- 

 chotomous or two-branched plan, from the base upwards, 

 the venules lying nearly parallel and extending in straight 

 lines towards the margins, those of the barren fronds ter- 

 minating in the serratures of the margin, but those of the 

 fertile fronds extendins; into the indusium, there formino^ 

 the receptacles to which the spore-cases are attached. The 

 sori are oblong, covered by indusia of the same form, each 

 consisting of the apex of one of the lobes of the frond, 

 changed to a membranous texture, and folded under. The 

 sori are, as already mentioned, seated on this membranous 

 reflexed lobe, and by this circumstance the genus may at 

 once be detected by those who are not conversant with its 

 easily recognized primd-facie appearances. 



The Maidenhair is a local plant, though it has a wide 

 geographical range. It is found here and there in the 



