128 Petty : North Lanes. Varieties of Polypodiimi vulgare. 



semilacerum Link (154 C). Length of frond and stipes 8^ in. 

 This was the only locality in which I could trace any proof 

 of crossing - . Evidently on this wall the plants had grown 

 and seeded for many years, for the Polypody is not a rapid 

 grower, and the rhizomes were well attached to the stones 

 and mortar and earth between. If the variation was not 

 the effect of crossing, how is it to be explained? The fact 

 that the forms occasionally (especially in crenatum and 

 dentatum) run into each other or revert, works for and not 

 against. The space covered was about 15 ft. by 5 ft., the 

 aspect due west. Next comes another failure. A wander- 

 ing- 'collector' for the market happened to pass the locality 

 and cleared the lot ! Then the owner of the wall saw it 

 wanted patching here and there, and of course patched. 

 By the help of an acquaintance I got even with the 

 'collector.' The railway company looked carefully after 

 his' hamper, and it was discovered that in some way he was 

 contravening the regulations, and had to pay on a higher 

 scale ; but this was small consolation to me, as the poly- 

 podies were gone long- before the man was known. The 

 heavier cost was paid at once, and the pest, after relieving 

 his mind, disappeared. The locality when I saw it last, five 

 years ago, was only just beginning to recover. 



interruption Moore. Several specimens; one, ni, is almost 

 a replica of the illustration in Lowe (fig. 19, p. 39), aspect 

 W. ; 144, a smaller one, with the short bifid lobes crossing 

 each other N.W. In 81 the specimen I have is bifid at apex, 

 the only one that was so on the plant ; a tall form, 16 in., 

 stipes 4)^. in., frond averaging about 3 in. broad; S.S.W. 



irregulare Moore. To this I put the most curious specimen 

 I have. When growing on the top of a wall I hardly knew 

 what to make of it, and at first, looking at it from below 

 and a few yards away, took it as some form of ?nargi?iatum. 

 It turned out that the crisped appearance was not due to 

 this,, but to the cutting and waving of the sides of the 

 lobes. There were several fronds on the plant, each with 

 the stipes split about half an inch above the rhizome ; 

 above the fork iy 2 in. of stipes and 3*^ in. of frond. Part 

 of the plant was taken, and it grew well until the hot 

 summer of 1887, when it reverted to a small serratum and 

 died in 1889 or 1890. My book*says ' No. 2/84. Wall top 

 on Ulpha Road, fronds with different aspects, so not noted, 

 g-rowing alone, barren, August 1884.' 



^<\V\^' •• Naturalist, 



(jifP^ ' 7 APR. 1900 . . ■ 



: gal ." 



