THE BUCKLER FEUNS. 



arrangement of the leaflets and lobes, needs to be 

 very similar to that of Dilatata, the difference in 

 the case of Spinulosa being that the leaflets, in- 

 stead of being curled back, as in Dilatata, are 

 straight. The edges of the lobes, too, are spiny 

 and sharply serrated. The fronds do not attain 

 anything like the same length as those of Dilatata. 

 One peculiarity which will be easily noted about 

 Spinulosa is, that the tops of the incipient fronds, 

 in making their appearance just above ground, 

 are naked and green in colour, instead of being 

 covered with chaff-coloured scales, as in the case 

 of Dilatata. 



The Prickly-toothed Buckler Fern grows in 

 boggy situations, delighting in an atmosphere of 

 moisture, and in a saturated soil. We found it in 

 Devonshire, in a bog which lay under a wood at 

 the bottom of a hill. There it was growing at the 

 feet of the mounds of moss surmounting the roots 

 of the sedge-grasses. 



In cultivation it must have incessant moisture, 

 especially at its roots, where it should be sodden. 

 Peat and leaf-mould should compose the soil- 

 peat preponderating. It is a really beautiful Fern, 



353 



