NEPHRODIUM. 



571 



N. S. gracile— grac'-il-e (slender), Moore. 



This is the most distinct, as also the prettiest, known variety of 

 N. [Lastrea) sparsum, five forms of which are described in Hooker and 

 Baker's " Synopsis Filicum," p. 498. The fronds of N. s. gracile, lanceolate 

 and bipinnatifid (spear-shaped and twice divided 

 nearly to the midrib), vary from Sin. to 4in. in 

 length ; they are borne on short, slender stalks, 

 which, as may be seen from Fig. 138 (reduced 

 from Col. Beddome's " Ferns of British India," 

 by the kind permission of the author), are clothed 

 throughout with conspicuous scales. — Beddome, 

 Ferns of British Lidia, t. 198. 



N. (Lastrea) Spekei— Las'-tre-a ; Spe'-ke-i 

 (Capt. Speke's), Baker. 

 A stove species, of medium dimensions, 

 native of Johanna Island and Angola. Its fronds, 

 borne on slender stalks Ift, long, are IJft. to 

 2ft. long and 9in. to 12in. broad ; they are fur- 

 nished with entire leaflets 4in. to Gin. long, lin. ^^P'^'-^dium sparsum gracile 



(i nat. size). 



broad, and cut down very nearly to the midrib, 



and are of a soft, papery texture. The sori (spore masses) are disposed 

 midway between the edge and the midrib. — Hooker, SyjtojJsis Filicum, p. 263. 



N. (Lastrea) spinulosum— Las'-tre-a ; spi-nul-o'-sum (somewhat spiny), 

 BesvaUcV. 



This hardy species, known under the popular name of " Prickly Shield 

 Fern," has a very wide range of habitat, being found in Arctic Europe and 

 America, southward to Madeira, the Mediterranean, on the Himalayas, and 

 also, though sparingly, in Bourbon Island and Cape Colony. Eaton, in his 

 excellent work on the "Ferns of North America" (vol. ii., p. 166), states 

 that it is usually met with in shady woods, often in springy places, and along 

 shaded rivulets from Newfoundland to Oregon and North- Western America, 

 and extending southward to North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. In 

 England it has been found in the Isle of Man ; near Ingleborough, Pottery 



