THE LITTLE ADDERS-TONGUE. 



12. 



THE LITTLE ADDERS-TONGUE. 



Op hiog lossum lusitanicum. 



PLATE 1, FIG. 11. 



TINY little Fern, sufficiently near in its 

 resemblance to the Adders-tongue major 

 to claim close relationship. A British 

 Fern it is, but hardly an inhabitant of England, 

 although it has been stated that specimens have 

 been found in Cornwall. But in Guernsey it has 

 its habitats, having been found near some rocks in 

 that charming little nook, Petit Bot Bay. Like 

 the Adders-tongue major, Ophioglossum lusitani- 

 cum has one barren frond sometimes two and an 

 erect spike of fructification. But the barren frond, 

 instead of being pear-shaped, is lance-shaped, 

 simple, unscalloped, much smaller, and much nar- 

 rower than in Vulgaium. Like the latter, it 

 rises from a fleshy, brittle cluster of twisted 

 roots; but unlike Vutyatiim, barren stem and 

 seed-bearing spike, instead of rising some dis- 



277 



