SOFT PRICKLY SHIELD FEElf. 9 



is covered with a mass of scales of a rust-red colour, 

 which are distinctly observable even in the young 

 plant. Mr. Newman mentions a property as belong- 

 ing to this fern, which, though common to many exotic 

 species, is not found in any other British fern, that of 

 producing new plants from " bulbilli, which originate 

 from the main or partial rachides at the axillae of 

 the pinnules." This condition of the plant was fully 

 described by Professor Kinahan, in a paper read before 

 the Dublin Natural History Society, in June, 1852. 

 If these bulbilli be taken off the parent pinnules and 

 planted in a good light soil, they will grow with great 

 rapidity, and form strong plants. 



