PSEUDATHYRIUM FLEXILE. 206 



Westcombe and Mr. Backhouse entirely abandon the idea of 

 its being a form of alpestre, although there can be no doubt, as 

 We have seen, that this idea did present itself to both of them 

 at the moment of finding it, possibly because they were totally 

 unprepared for the occurrence of a second new fern, on ground 

 for so many years trodden by our Scottish friends in their her- 

 borizing excursions. 



Hitherto found only in Glen Prosen, in Forfarshire, by a 

 party of botanists consisting of Messrs. James Backhouse, 

 Thomas Westcombe, and James Backhouse, jun., to all of 

 whom I am indebted for the opportunity of examining a series 

 of specimens. In this locality it appears to be most abundant, 

 and doubtless will be found generally distributed, like alpestre, 

 over the highland glens of Scotland. 



Eadicles very large, strong, and much branched : caudex 

 massive, enduring, its position erect, its crown broad, gibbous, 

 scaly : fronds estipitate, by which term I intend to convey the 

 idea that the rachis bears pinnse, more or less developed, from 

 its apex to its junction with the caudex ; Unear-lanceolate, very 

 elongate, very attenuate, very flexile, the last character due to 

 the tenuity of the rachis ; pinnate : pinnse short, gradually 

 narrowed, rather blunt, rather distant, deflexed, pinnate, about 

 fifteen pairs before they lose their distinctness at either extre- 

 mity; those towards the base gradually diminish in size as well 

 as length, and finally become almost rudimentary, though their 

 divisions are not proportionally diminished in number : pin- 

 nules distinct and apparently separate, yet certainly connected 

 by the wing of the partial rachis, about five pairs before their 

 distinctness is lost in the apical portion of the pinna, broad 

 and blunt at the apex, narrow at the sessile base, and slightly 

 broader upwards nearly to the apex, so as to render the circum- 

 scription of each pinnule obscurely pyriform or obovate, on 



