WOODSIA. 179 



they split from above into narrow scale-like segments not 

 easily distinguished, at least without optical assistance, from 

 the hairs which occur with them on the fronds. In the full- 

 grown state, the sori are consequently seated in the centre 

 of a spreading tuft of hair-like scales, which are formed of 

 the lacerated margins of the indusium the latter being 

 attached to the frond at the point beneath the capsules. 

 No other native Ferns possess a structure at all approaching 

 to this. 



These Perns were formerly ranked with the Polypodies and 

 AcrosticJmms, but when the structure of this race of plants 

 became better understood, they'were very properly separated, 

 and they now, in conjunction with some few foreign kinds, 

 form a distinct family circle. The name Woodsia was given 

 in compliment to a clever veteran English botanist, Joseph 

 Woods, Esq., whose name has been recently before the 

 public as the author of a very useful ' Tourist's Flora/ 



WOODSIA HYPERBOREA, R. Brown. The Blunt-leaved or 

 Alpine Woodsia. (Plate IV. fig. 1.) 



This is a diminutive species, never exceeding a few inches 

 in stature, and renewing its fronds annually in the spring, 

 the older ones being destroyed by the frosts and cold of 

 winter : when this influence is felt by the plants, the fronds 



