THE SEA SPLEEN WORT. 1 29 



about half the length of the leafy part, and sometimes 

 shorter than that ; rachis often purple, sometimes purple 

 on the lower part and green higher up; leafy part widest 

 about the middle, tapering to a blunt point at the apex, 

 and tapering generally, but not always, by the diminution 

 of the pinnae towards the base ; pinnae in opposite pairs, 

 or alternate upon the rachis, indented, wing-shaped, or 

 ear-shaped, ordinarily attached by their narrow, stalk- 

 like bases to narrow, leafy margins or wings, which run 

 along on each side of the rachis. Fructification pro- 

 duced in elongated sori, covered by elongated indusia, 

 and placed diagonally between the midveins and the 

 margins of the pinnae. Though generally, even when 

 ripened, distinct, the lines of sori become sometimes 

 confluent turning to a rich brown, which conspicuously 

 contrasts with the deep green of the pinnae. 



HABITATS. Sea-caverns ; cliffs or other rocks in or 

 very near the sea. It is very rarely that this fern is 

 found growing far from the coast, though it not un- 

 frequently is found of a more or less diminutive size upon 

 rocks in tidal rivers several miles from the sea. Its 

 favourite positions are moist and shady crevices of the 

 open sides of cliffs, especially in situations where water 

 oozes through such crevices or trickles down the out- 

 ward face of the rock. Shady clefts, formed by jutting 

 pieces of rock, moist corners at the entrance to cliff 

 hollows or caverns ; cavern roofs ; rocks detached from 

 the coast and surrounded by the sea. These and the 

 under sides of rocks overhanging the mouths of tidal 

 rivers and similar rocks further inland are, one and all, 

 favoured habitats of Aspknium marinum. 



WHERE FOUND. In England, on the coasts of the 

 counties of Chester, Cornwall, Cumberland, Devon, 

 Dorset, Durham, Gloucester (banks of the Severn), 

 Hants (the Isle of Wight), Lancaster, Northumberland, 

 Somerset, Sussex, Westmoreland, and York. In Wales, 

 on the coasts of the counties of Anglesea, Caermarthen, 



