22 
BEAUTIFUL FERNS. 
Nephrodium spinulosimi, “ Desvaux ; ” Hooker, Brit. Ferns, t. i8, 19; 
Sp. Fil., iv., p. 127. — Hooker & Baker, Syn. Fil., p. 275. 
Aspidmm dilatatum Torrey, FI. New York, ii., p. 
The forms of this species are very many, the limits by no means 
agreed upon, and the synonymy inextricably complicated and uncertain. 
The following appear to be the chief American varieties. 
Var. vulgare : — Scales thinnish, pale-brown ; fronds light green, nar- 
rowly oblong-ovate, twice pinnate ; pinnae oblique to the rachis, elongated- 
triangular, the lowest pair broadly triangular and having the basal pin- 
nules longest ; pinnules set obliquely on the midribs, oblong, sub-acute, 
incisely serrate or pinnatifid with spinulosely toothed lobes ; sori dorsal 
on the veins or either apical or dorsal on a solitary superior veinlet ; 
indusium commonly smooth and glandless. — Aspidium spinulosum, 
Swartz, Syn. Fil., p. 420. — Mettenius, Fil. Hort. Lsps., p. 93. — Milde, 
in Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. Cur., xxvi., ii., p. 522. — Eaton, in Gray’s 
Manual, ed. v., p. 665 (excl. var.). — Davenport, Catal., p. 28. — Wil- 
liamson, Fern-Etchings, t. xxxvii. — Aspidium spinulosum genuinum, 
Milde, Fil. Eur. et At., p. 132. — Lastrca spimdosa, “Presl;” Moore, 
Nat. Pr. Brit. Ferns, t. xxi. — Polystichum spimilosuniy var. vulgare, Kocil, 
Syn. FI. Germ, et Helv., ed. ii. (1845) p. 979; ed. iii., p. 734. — Neph- 
rodium spimclosum, var. bipinnatum. Hooker, Brit. Ferns, t. 18; Sp. 
Fil., iv., p. 127. — Nephrodium spinulosum (type) Hooker & Baker, 
Syn. Fil., p. 275. (See Milde’s work for other synonymes.) 
Var. iniermedium, D. C. Eaton: — Scales tawny, fronds oblong- 
ovate, twice or frequently thrice pinnate ; pinnse spreading obliquely, 
oblong-lanceolate, the lowest pair broadest and more triangular, having 
the inferior pinnules moderately elongated, the basal ones a little 
