FILICES. 167 



very plentiful and of most luxuriant growth. Holystreet and 

 Gidleigh, near Chagford. Ivybridge, etc. P. vn.-ix. 



ORD. II. OPHIOGL03SACEJE. 



BOTRYCHIUM. MOONWOET. 



" Capsules distinct, disposed in a compound spike, attached 

 to a pinnate or bipinnate frond." Bab. Man. p. 419. 



B. Ijunaria (common Moomvort.) In dry, open, and elevated 

 pastures. " Fronds solitary ; barren branch oblong, pinnate ; 

 pinnae lunate or fan-shaped, the margin jagged or creuate " 

 (Moore, p. 271). (Moore, Nat. Print. Ferns, t. 51. Moore, IJand- 

 book, p. 272. . Sowerby, Ferns, t. 45. Osmunda Lunaria, Linn. 

 E. B. t. 318.) "Height from 3 to 6 inches. Pinna? with veins 

 radiating from the petiole, sometimes deeply notched. Fro.nds 

 usually solitary, but sometimes two on the same stalk " (Bab. 

 p. 429). Haldon, Miss A. Griffith. Mr. Moore, in his ' Popular 

 History of British Ferns,' gives " by the Dart " as a habitat, 

 but does not specify where. I have never found this Fern in 

 Devonshire myself. P. YI. vii. 



OPHIOGLOSSUM. ADDEE'S-TONQUE. 



" Capsules connate, disposed in a simple distichous spike, at- 

 tached to an undivided frond." Bab. p. 419. 



O. vulgatum (common Adders-tongue.) In moist pastures 

 and meadows. Frond ovate-obtuse, with a club-shaped spike 

 rising higher than the leafy expansion. (E. B. t. 108. Moore, 

 Nat. Print. Ferns, t. 51 B. Moore, Handbook, p. 276. Sower- 

 by, Ferns, t. 46.) Fronds from 2 or 3 to sometimes 12 inches 

 high, on a smooth cylindrical and hollow stipes ; the barren 

 branch leaf-like, smooth, entire, sessile, broad-ovate, either obtuse 

 or acute ; the fertile branch or spike erect, on a longed or shorter 

 stalk ; the fructifications are arranged on the margins of the 

 spike, the theca? or spore-cases are round and smooth, sessile, 

 arranged in two rows, one on each margin, bursting transversely 

 with two valves. In a meadow near Torre Abbey, but the habi- 

 tat has been destroyed this year by building. At the base of the 

 mound at Ellacombe, Mr. Earle. Meadows about Exeter. P. 



V. VI. 



