TRUE MAIDEXHAIH. 



bare and leafless, and assuming the appearance of a bunch of 



strong bristles. 



Mr. Ball, of Dublin, pointed out to me a property which this 



fern possesses, when cultivated on Mr. Ward's plan of checking 

 communication with the outer air by means of 

 a glass cover : — the lobes of the pinnules be- 

 come viviparous at the extremities, the seeds 

 actually vegetating while still in situ, and the 

 young plants taking root, like parasites, in the 

 substance of the old one. From a specimen 

 in which this peculiarity was clearly exliibited, 

 I sketched the annexed vignette. 

 The figure (a) at page 1 represents a small frond from Ilfra- 



combe, of the natural size : the pinnules are frequently as large 



as the figure to the left of the same cut. 



There arc three forms of this fern, so different as to have 

 taken the rank of species. 



The first of these is a stronger, more robust plant than the 

 others, with a thicker stipes and larger pinnules, the stipes is 

 also distinguished by a beautiful purple bloom : I have it in 

 cultivation from Cornwall. It is the Adiantum Moritzianum 

 of Klotzsch. 



The second appears to me the normal form, the true Adi- 

 antum Capillus-Veneris of Linneus. Mr. Wilson, however, 

 whose oj)inion is of the highest value, appears not to consider 

 it the ordinary plant. He first invited attention to it in the 

 ' Phytologist ' for March, 1851, in the following terms : — 



" I send full-grown fronds of an Adiantum from roots which 

 have been in cultivation upwards of ten years, and which were 

 gathered in the Isle of Man, by my friend Mr. T. Gr. Rylands. 

 It differs very considerably in appearance from the ordinary 

 form of A. Capillus-Veneris, and may perhaps be a different 

 species. If compared with the figure in ' English Botany,' it 

 will be seen that the frond is narrow and oblong, by no means 

 flabelliform, and the branches, instead of being set at an acute 

 angle, are widely spreading. The pinnules do not taper gra- 



