82 WHERE TO FIND FERNS. 



stipes, and bearing at the upper end the fruitful spike. 

 There is a single barren frond (though sometimes there 

 may be two barren fronds on the same plant) and a single 

 fruitful branch, as in the case of Ophioglossum vutgatum, 

 to which fern the present species bears a general, though 

 diminutive, resemblance. Fructification the fruitful 

 spike, pointed at the end, consists of two rows, one on 

 each side of the rachis, of rounded spore-cases each 

 row consisting, usually, of about five or six of these 

 eases. 



HABITATS. Damp positions on heaths and on open 

 pastures, amongst grass-roots. 



WHERE FOUND. The only locality generally known 

 is the Island of Guernsey, where, in 1854, it was first 

 discovered in the neighbourhood of Petit Bot Bay. It 

 is said to have been found in Cornwall, and it is quite 

 possible that, owing to its inconspicuousness, it may 

 abound in many parts of the British Isles without having 

 been discovered. 



XVII. THE COMMON POLYPODY. 

 Polypodinm vtilgare. 

 (Plate IV., page 55.) 



LENGTH OF FROND. Two or three inches to two feet 

 and a half, according to position and circumstances of 

 growth the maximum length given being, however, 

 very exceptional, though fronds of that length have been 

 found by the Author. The average size of specimens is 

 given in most descriptions of ferns at from six to 

 eighteen inches the specimens commonly encountered 

 being seldom more than a foot in length. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. Roots abundant, fibrous. 



