30 HARDY TERNS. 
Mr. Bree ; but the doubt cannot last very long, 
for I have proved the fact that lonchitidioides 
in time becomes lobatum, and after a while 
lobatum becomes P. aculeatum. I have watched 
the plants changing from year to year, and have 
had many an argument about it ; but each Fern - 
grower can prove it for himself in three or four 
years. 
I have one large plant of true lonchitis, which 
I bought at a small nursery without being able to 
trace its history, and from which I have this 
autumn divided three young plants. There is one 
feature in lonchitis which entirely divides it from 
lonchitidioides— the pinnules, even in the tiniest 
frond, lap over each other like the scales on a 
fish's back ; each pinnule is furnished with sharp 
teeth, with a projection Hke an ear close to the 
rachis, which is covered with brown scales; the 
fronds grow stiff and erect, and its whole forma- 
tion gives one the idea of protection from wet. 
The fronds spring from the centre, several 
sets of them during the summer, the whole 
