2 TRUE MAIDEN HAIR. 



form receptacles for the spore-cases. The sori are very 

 small, and chiefly seated on the under part of the lobes 

 of the higher pinnules, which thus form a membranous 

 indusium for the development of the clusters of fructi- 

 fication. 



This beautiful little fern is evidently a wanderer 

 from warmer climates, and is only very locally distri- 

 buted in Great Britain. Cornwall, Devonshire, and the 

 southern parts of Ireland are its chief resorts. It is 

 found only in moist caves, or the fissures of rocks, 

 most frequently near the sea-coast, where the water 

 trickles over its roots, or where it is exposed to the 

 sea spray. It is found in abundance at Ilfracombe, 

 and in many places on the south coast of Devonshire. 

 Mr. Henry Newman, in a letter, describes his dis- 

 covery of this shade-loving beauty, in its retreat in 

 Wales, growing out of a rock encrusted with a soft 

 deposit of carbonate of lime left by a trickling stream 

 and looking very much like cream cheese. The spot 

 is very near the lodge gate of the Dunraven estate. 



There are three varieties of this fern, so distinct as 

 to be considered as species by some writers. The first 

 is a stronger, coarser, more robust plant than the 

 others, with thicker stalks and larger fronds ; the 

 stipes has also a peculiar purple bloom. The second 

 is the true normal form, our present species, the Adi- 

 a/ntwm Capillus Veneris of Linnaeus. The third is a 

 looser, less compact variety, with the stalks of the pin- 

 nules set on at acute angles, and the pinnules more 

 deeply divided. It is not so common as the other 

 forma 



