THE FERN PARADISE. 



merged. Each one of the side branches is again 

 divided, and bears on its midrib successive pairs 

 of leaflets, sometimes placed opposite each other, 

 and sometimes placed alternately. These are 

 longest at the part of the branch near the central 

 midrib of the frond, and gradually diminish in 

 length as they reach the extreme point of the 

 branch, until they terminate in a point. In fine 

 specimens of the Bracken, the leaflets on the side 

 branches of the frond are again divided this time 

 into lobes, which are arranged in pairs on the rib 

 of the leaflet. The lobes are narrow, and oblong 

 in shape, with broad bases and bluntish tops, each 

 lobe at the base of the branches at the lower por- 

 tion of the frond being distinct that is to say, 

 disconnected from the lobes on each side of it; 

 but towards the tips of the lower branches, and 

 on all the branches at the highest part of the 

 frond, the division between the lobes on each 

 leaflet is not carried down to the rib of the leaflet, 

 which in such a case presents somewhat the ap- 

 pearance of a double-edged saw. At the backs, 

 and along the margins of the lobes of the Bracken, 

 lie the spore-cases in countless myriads, covered 



234 



