140 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



first silvery tinged with brown, afterwards wholly brown. Lamina 

 coriaceous, evergreen, glabrous above except for a few scattered hairs 

 on the rachis, densely clothed beneath with imbricated broadly lanceo- 

 late scales which are at first silvery and afterwards pale rusty brown, 

 strapshaped, tapering towards the base and apex, pinnate or very 

 deeply pinnatipartite ; pinnae adnate by the whole of their broad base, 

 broadly ovate-oval or ovate-oblong, entire or crenate. Venules 

 anastomosing towards the margins of the pinnae. Sori oblong, attached 

 to the venules above their first fork. Indusium rudimentary, repre- 

 sented only by an elevated ridge extending the length of the sorus. 

 Sori muricated, with numerous rather large acute tubercles. 



Yar. a. genuina. 

 Pinnae broadly ovate-oval, entire or nearly so. 



Yar. /3. crenatum. Milde. 



Pinnae oval-oblong, coarsely crenate ; plant usually considerably 

 larger than in var. a. 



On walls and rocks, local but widely distributed over England. 

 Most frequent in the south-west and west of England. Scarce in the 

 midland counties and rare in the eastern. Very scarce in Scotland, 

 though it extends north to the counties of Argyle and Perth. Frequent 

 but local in Ireland, and most abundant towards the west. Var. /? 

 rare. I have wild specimens only from Ingleborougb, but it is 

 reported from many stations, particularly in the west of Ireland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer, Autumn. 



Fronds including the stipes from H to 6 inches long by f to § 

 broad, deep rich green with a slightly glaucous tinge, not shining. 

 The pinnae more or less connected at the base, at least towards the 

 apex of the frond. Scales dentate at the margin, thin, distinctly 

 clathrate, their network with large meshes. Sori at first hidden 

 beneath the scales which clothe the under surface of the frond, but 

 ultimately appearing conspicuously through them. 



Var. /3 is a considerably larger plant, sometimes 8 or 9 inches long 

 by If to 2 inches broad, with the pinna? longer and crenate or lobato- 

 crenate at the margins, indeed it approaches somewhat in size to 

 C. aureum, found in the Canary Isles and Madeira, but this has the 

 rachis at first densely scaly above as well as beneath, the indusium 

 more developed, and the spaces of the network of the scales marked 

 with striae ; the pinnae, moreover, are entirely repand, not lobato- 

 crenate. 



Common Scale-fern. 



