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PTERIS AQUILINA. 
[From wrepis, pteris, a Fern, from nrep«{. wrepbv, 
pterix, pteron, a feather. Newman proposed to 
name it Eupteris, emphatically the Pteris, to dis- 
tinguish it from its allies. Aquilina from aquila 
an eagle, a postfix given by Linnseus, because he 
fancied he saw an eagle displayed in the section of 
the stem.] 
COMMON BRAKES, OR BRACKEN. 
Rhizome, or root, about the thickness of the finger, 
black in colour, creeping underground horizontally. 
Rachis, or stem, thick and dark brown near the 
ground, green and tapering upwards, smooth and 
shining. Fronds from two to ten feet high, accord- 
ing to situation ; nearly bipinnate when dwarf, but 
decompound when luxuriant. Lower pinnules pin- 
nate and pinnato-pinnatifid, ' or twice pinnate. Sori, 
or seed spores, follow the sinuosities of the pinnse, 
and lie all along under the refiexed edge. They are 
in fact placed under the hem. As there is but one 
British species of this plant its identification becomes 
easy. Some say this is the e^xv^pis, thelypteris, or 
Female Fern of Dioscorides and Theophrastus ; and 
that if any of the female sex took it internally, or 
even walked over it, very injurious effects ensued. 
An d now for an absurd anecdote, which you had 
better not read. Once upon a time when I was 
taking a country walk with some young friends, 
hoys and girls of an advanced growth together, I 
saw two of the young ladies pulling up the stems 
of the Pteris aquilina, and cut them across through 
the black part with a pen-knife. Walking apart, 
they put their heads together, as if examining the 
stem so cut. If the result was not satisfactory 
another slice was cut off. I learnt afterwards that 
they were looking for the initial letters of their 
lovers’ names in the section. Thus instructed, I 
have frequently since that time made the same ex- 
periment when I have been up among the brakes on 
the tops of these encircling hills. But in spite of 
many trials, I never could detect so much as the 
bare feature of a letter or an ampassy. Nothing, in 
