ASPIDIUM. 



427 



while at Chaigeley, in Lancashire, it is, or formerly was, very abundant. 

 Although it is found wild on the Pyrenees, at elevations varying between 

 2000ft. and 3000ft., in England, as well as in Ireland, where it is frequently 

 met with, this plant prefers lowland shady woods or hedge-banks where 

 the soil is naturally and constantly moist. Indeed, it may be said to 

 affect exactly the same situations as .4. aculeatum. Its presence in Scotland 

 is only recorded from Argyleshire and Berwickshire. 



With regard to variation, this species differs essentially from A. aculeatum, 

 which is, or appears to be, singularly constant in its character when 

 compared with the Soft Prickly Shield Fern, remarkable varieties of which 

 have been either found wild or raised artificially from spores in such 

 quantities that the forms affected by the fronds are very extensive, and 

 many of them are remarkably handsome and decorative. Thus we have 

 forms of much larger size than the species from which they spring, and 

 others very dwarf ; some with very broad fronds, as we also have particularly 

 narrow-fronded varieties. Among them we notice some with almost entire 

 pinnae and pinnules (undivided leaflets and leafits) and others in which 

 these organs are extensively and deeply divided. In some varieties, again, 

 the pinnules are large and more or less circular, while in others they are 

 so small as to be almost linear. The variability in cristation is also 

 particularly noticeable in A angulare, and this singular character is well 

 illustrated by varieties whose fronds are branching from the "base, by others 

 which are crested at their apex or summit, while the tips of the fronds and 

 also of the pinnse of numerous varieties are multifid or crested ; some are 

 even proliferous (furnished with young plants) on the greater part of their 

 midrib, thus showing a distinct departure from the typical species to which 

 they owe their origin. 



These varieties are now so numerous that, although many others not 

 found in the following list may possibly be considered of equal decorative 

 value, we feel bound to limit ourselves to the descriptions of the most 

 distinct forms only. 



A. a. acrocladon — ac-roc'-lad-on (summit-branched), Moore. 



This splendid form, native of Devonshire, is of comparatively dwarf 

 habit and one of the most striking of all known varieties. Its fronds, 



