16 ANNUAL MAIDEXHAIl). 



quently become amorphous, the crowded capsules eventually 

 covering all the back of the frond. It must also be obvious, 

 that the capsules being crowded along the vein, even to its 

 point of furcation, the mass itself becomes furcate. Fig. c re- 

 presents a portion of frond from which the capsules have been 

 removed. Besides these fertile fronds, there are other shorter, 

 more fragile, more membranous, and infinitely less divided 

 fronds, with three or four large, flabellate pinnae, which are 

 either barren, or sparingly seeded. It is strictly an annual 

 fern; and when the species is raised from seed, the plant 

 aj)pears to consist, for some weeks, of a single, undivided, 

 flabellate frond. 



The soil used for this fern should be a light friable loam, 

 mixed with abundance of fine clean sand : it requires almost 

 constant moisture, and should be covered by a bell glass ; the 

 Marchantiffi and mosses should be allowed to grow freely in its 

 company. Some soil from its native locality in Jersey, kindly 

 given me by Mr. "Ward, has proved very productive ; it appears 

 to have been filled with the seeds. This fern has long been 

 cultivated in our greenhouses, and when once established is 

 diflicult to eradicate. Having observed that this is strictly an 

 annual fern, it is scarcely necessary to state that the usual 

 care bestowed on the preservation and division of the corm 

 will in all probability be unavailing. 



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