108 



HOLLY FERN. 



T^ 



the substance thick and leathery, and the entire frond as rigid 

 and prickly as a spike of miniature holly-leaves, so much so, 

 indeed, that the fronds are not to be flattened for the herbarium 

 without considerable dif&culty. The lateral veins are alter- 

 nate and generally three-branched, the anterior branch usually 



terminating half way between the 

 midvein and margin, the others 

 reaching the margin, but being 

 quite free at their extremity. It 

 should, however, be observed, that 

 the auricle or lobe at the base of 

 each pinna has a formula of vena- 

 tion decidedly different from the 

 remainder of the pinnule, since 

 the principal vein in this lobe 

 emits several fruitful branches in 

 an opposite direction to that taken 

 by the rest. The involucre is cir- 

 cular, and attached to the back of 

 each anterior branch of the lateral 

 veins near its extremity ; the at- 

 tachment is by a sliort central 

 cord : the capsules are attached to 

 the vein around the base of the 

 cord of the involucre, and, as they 

 reach maturity, form a circular 

 cluster, and these clusters a con- 

 tinuous line on each side of the 

 pinna, about equidistant from its 

 midrib and margin. Some speci- 

 mens are so densely seeded that 

 the masses become confluent. In 

 the Irish, as in all other speci- 

 mens, the clusters of capsules are 

 most abundant towards the apex of the frond, but they are also 

 scattered throughout the other parts, even to its base ; whereas 

 in the Scotch, Welch, and particularly the English specimens, 

 the masses are confined to the upper part of the frond. Mr. 

 Tatham, in allusion to these observations, remarks that in the 



