58 



A FERN BOOK FOE EYERTBODY. 



as having a good ball of the original soil about the roots 

 when transplanted. In the open air it will succeed in a 

 moist shady situation, and from its mode of growth prove 

 an acquisition to the outdoor fernery. 



The variety crisp a has the leaflets puckered, so as to 

 give a crisped appearance to the frond. 



In the variety curvata^ the narrowed fronds are curved 

 downwards. 



Another variety, truncata^ is more singular than hand- 

 some. The extremity of the fronds and the tips of the 

 branches are abruptly shortened, as if the leafy portion 

 had been nibbled away, leaving a portion of the naked 

 leaf-stalk projecting. 



CEEST PEEjS^* 



From a stout branching root-stock this fern sends up 

 its tufts of nearly upright fronds for 1 or 2 feet. The 

 outline of the frond is narrow and of equal width below, 

 but terminating upwards in a point. The branches are 

 more correctly leaflets cut deeply into rounded lobes, but 

 seldom divided quite down to the mid-rib. Each lobe is 

 sharply toothed around the edge. The tufts of spore- 

 cases are arranged in a single line on each side of the 

 central vein of the lobes. They have a roundish, pale- 

 coloured covering, which communicates a decided and 

 characteristic appearance to the under side of the fronds. 



This is a local species, being found only in boggy places 

 in three or four Ei]glish counties, the largest number of 

 stations bemg in Norfolk. (Plate IV., fig. 2.) 



It is not a difiicult fern to cultivate, growing freely in 

 a soil composed entirely of what is called in the eastern 

 counties " hard turf," which is hard enough to fly into 

 fragments under the stroke of a hammer. This turf is 

 pounded quite small, the finer the better, and the roots 

 imbedded in it. Of course this fern is too large and 

 coarse for the Wardian case, but may with advantage take 

 its place in the outdoor fernery. 



^Lastrea eristata, Pbbsi.. 



