186 



MALE FEEN. 



make their appearance, and, expanding at a more congenial 

 season, arrive in safety at maturity. The fronds are mature in 

 August, and last to the middle of winter quite uninjured : they 

 are generally fertile, but plants are not of unfrequent occui'- 

 rence which produce only barren fronds ; and these are gene- 

 rally larger and greener, and have the pinnules more deeply 

 serrated than when fertile. The fronds vary from five to ten 

 or more in number ; their position is nearly erect, or, perhaps, 

 somewhat slanting, and radiating from a common centre. The 

 length of the fronds averages between two and three feet, 

 and the stipes constitutes nearly one-fourth of this, and is very 

 chaffy. The form of the frond is lanceolate and pinnate : the 

 lower pinnae are considerably shorter than those of the middle 

 of the frond, but never approach the diminutive size of those 

 of Lastrea montana : all the pinnae are nearly linear, but 

 acute at the apex ; they are regularly pinnate : the j)innules are 

 somewhat obtuse, dentate at the extremities, 

 and serrated at their margins. The lateral 

 veins are forked half-way between the midvein 

 and the margin : after the fork, the anterior 

 branch bears a nearly circular cluster of cap- 

 sules ; these are covered by a smooth, lead-co- 

 loured, reniform involucre, which is attached 

 to the back of the vein at the point where the 

 stalks of the capsules are inserted : the involu- 

 cre is more perfect, conspicuous, and lasting 

 than in any other British fern : the lateral veins do not quite 

 reach the margin of 'the pinnules, and the anterior branch of 

 each is not quite so long as the posterior. 



Daiictits. 



In retaining the forms of Filix-mas under that specific name, 

 I feel that I may perhaps be charged with a diversity of prac- 

 tice, havuig, in the case of the Lophodiums, assigned specific 

 rank to forms which are certainly not more distant from each 

 other. Such a charge, apart from explanation, seems just; but 

 this difference obtains. In Lophodium I admit no intermediate 

 forms, but include all the individuals I have ever seen in one 



