1878. | Aspidium spinulosum and its Varieties. 713 
var. intermedium in form, in the spinulose character of the pinne 
and the glandular indusia, but on the other hand the lower por- 
tion as strongly resembles A. cristatum, and it is still more closely 
connected with the latter species by the character of its sterile 
fronds. These so often resemble the sterile fronds of A. cris- 
tatum var. Clintonianum, that it is not always possible to separate 
them if they become mixed. Indeed, the resemblance between 
the larger forms of Boottii and ordinary forms of Ciintonianum is 
sometimes so striking that it would be exceedingly difficult to 
distinguish them if it was not that in Joottz the indusiums are 
always covered with minute glands, while in CZintonianum they 
are perfectly smooth. 
For these reasons I cannot subscribe to the opinion that its 
nearest affinity is with spzuulosum, but favor removing it altogether 
from that species, and either placing it with cristatum or restoring 
it to its specific distinction. 
But I will not undertake to decide this question here, the only 
object of the present paper being to give the results of my recent 
examinations, and to show, first, that we have good typical speci- 
mens of A. spinulosum in abundance, and second, that the var. 
intermedium possesses sufficiently good distinctive characters to 
justify our regarding it as a good variety, if not a species. 
I submit the following (partial) descriptions of the two forms, 
intended only to cover the principal points in the present paper: 
ASPIDIUM SPINULOSUM Swz. (A, inter- | ASPIDIUM SPINULOSUM var. interme- 
medium Willd. ium Eaton. (A. spimulosum 
I to 3 feet high. Stipes clothed with Willd. 
pale or dark brown scales; fronds usu- I to 3 feet high. Scales of the stipes 
ally of a light (yellowish) green, some- 
times dark, varying from ovate- lanceolate 
to triangular-ovate, twice or thric - 
nate; pinnæ arranged oblique S on pe 
rachis, the lowest pairs unequally trian- 
gular-ovate or sub-deltoid, usually shorter 
and more oblique pee p immediately 
above, lower pinn greatly elon- 
gated. i ‘ 
Under surface smooth; indusioms 
naked; sori terminal on the veins 
Medford, Mass., July, hie 
pale brown, or brown with darker 
ters; frond usually dark green, oblong- 
lanceolate, twice or thrice pinnate; pin- 
næ spreading, lower often unequally 
triangular-ovate with elongated lower 
pinnules : 
Under surface finely glandular ; indu- 
siums covered with sta s; sori 
medial or sub-terminal on ee veins, 
NoreE.—In the foregoing paper I have not ventured to disturb the specific arrange- 
t of the 
slants under consideration, but as 
the positions therein assumed may, if — 
m 
= clearly established, render a re-arrangement necessary, I offer the following sugges- ses 
