ASPLENIUM LANCEOLATUM. 223 



or foreign. This plant is far more abundant in the western than in the 

 eastern part of the island [Jersey] ; and, somewhat to my surprise, I found 

 it flourishing under very different conditions of light and moisture. Near 

 Grosnez, it is found growing in the crevices of the stone walls, fully exposed 

 to the blaze of the sun, scarcely attaining, however, the height of more 

 than one or two inches, and with very crisp and curled fronds. It attains 

 its greatest development on the top of densely shaded sandstone banks at 

 St. Aubin's, where its fronds are a foot in height, and the soil very dry ; 

 and likewise in the inside of wells, one or two of which were completely 

 lined witli it, where it must have been growing undisturbed for years, from 

 the great number of fronds springing from a single root. One specimen 

 that I gathered, in the inside of a well between Roselle and Boulay Bay, 

 had a hundred and twenty more or less perfect fronds upon it, besides por- 

 tions of the footstalks of sixty or seventy others. These fronds were twelve 

 or thirteen inches in height. In all oases the plants axe surroimded by a 

 mild and humid atmosphere, free from soot or dust." — Mr. Ward, in 

 Phytol. iv. 1090. 



The radicles are black, very long, slender, and penetrating ; 

 in the fissures of rocks they often run to a great depth, and the 

 plant becomes so completely and firmly wedged that it is a task 

 of great difficulty to obtain a living plant from such situations. 

 The caudex is brown, tufted, and densely covered with bristle- 

 like scales ; similar scales are also scattered here and there on 

 the stipes. The young fronds make their appearance in May, 

 arrive at maturity in August, and remain uninjured throughout 

 the winter ; and, except in seedling plants, they are always fer- 

 tile. The form of the frond is various ; in some situations it 

 is of erect growth, nearly linear, and simply pinnate, the pinnse 

 being stalked and lobed : in this state seed is abundantly pro- 

 duced, and the masses, when full grown, are perfectly circular. 

 Of the three entire fronds represented in the illustration at 

 page 219, that to the right hand is intended for this form, 

 and the portions of fronds to the right and left show the situa- 

 tion of the veins and the mode of fructification : every part 

 is perfectlj' flat, and the entire frond rigid. A second form, 

 of pendant growth and larger size, is more lanceolate : the 

 pinnte are pinnate : the pinnules stalked, serrated, and some- 



