SCOLOPENDRIUM VULGARE 



227 



fronds, or even extended and divided at the tip, transforming the 

 frond into a trident, with or without tassels at the points (S. v. 

 sagittatum). The smooth surface has been broken up in all sorts of 

 ways, roughened (rugose, muricate, etc.), ridged above or below, 

 and so on, and even the spore heaps, in one variety, gymnosorum, 

 have lost their Spleenwort character and been resolved into an 

 irregular scattering of capsules on the frond back, without any 

 indusium or cover at all. To crown all, in many forms two or more 

 of these peculiarities are combined, so that the possibilities are 

 inexhaustible. 



With this prelude, which, as will be seen, amply justifies our claim 

 on behalf of our familiar Hartstongue as the most variable Fern in 

 existence, we will now proceed to figure and describe some of the 

 most marked types extant, excluding those which are merely 

 eccentric, inconstant, or defective. Where the figures show the 

 variety clearly, we have refrained from needless description. 



Bimarginatum. — Found at Ulverston by Mr. Hadwin ; narrow 

 form, with marginal excrescence on both sides of the frond. 



Bimarginato-multifidum (Fig. 265). — Fronds consist of a mid- 

 rib fringed with irregular, toothed projections, and bearing a 

 branched head of somewhat leafier character, but all very narrow. 



Fig. 265. 5. v. biinarginal&-tniiUifidum. 



