68 



SMITH S FERN. 



The radicles are fibrous : the rhizome is dark brown and 

 creeping. The fronds make their appearance in May, and 



both their habit and mode of unfolding differ from those of G. 

 Drj^opteris ; the three portions of the frond never assume the 

 appearance of three little balls, which I have mentioned as an 

 excellent diagnostic of G. Dryopteris, but all the pinnules ap- 

 pear somewhat globular, the first pair of pinnse diifering from 



