8 
POLYSTICHUM ANGULARE. 
[Angular Many-order.] 
SOFT PRICKLY SHIELD FERN. 
Syn.— Polystichum setiferum, Aspidium angular e 3 
Polypodium angular e. 
I have already observed how much this and the 
preceding fern are alike. Descriptions of minute 
shades of difference must necessarily be indistinct. 
There is nothing like looking at the objects them- 
selves* and examining their various cast or contour 
of features with the natural eye. Any one who would 
wish to study the distinguishing marks depicted in 
a leaf or a plant* should take it in his own hands 
and scrutinise it closely. This will impress its 
prominent points on the mind, so that the plant 
when seen afterwards amid a thousand others* will 
be immediately recognised. How do we know a 
friend when we meet him in a crowd? We merely 
recognise those features which we have many times 
dwelt on before* and which have become so impressed 
upon us* that we can see them with our mind’s eye* 
either in absence or in the dark. When seen in the 
midst of a multitude of other faces we light on them 
in a moment. We again look on those handsome 
eyes or that pug nose of our dear friend— those 
black locks or those carrots— that fair skin or that 
mahogany hide* as the case may be* and with plea- 
sure we detect the well-known owner at the first 
glance. Make acquaintance* therefore* with the 
features of these ferns. Go into the lanes and 
hedgerows* and study them in their own homes. 
In default of that opportunity at the present mo- 
ment* I must ask you to turn to the accompanying 
portraits* impressed from the very ferns themselves. 
A glance at the pinnules at the top of each plate* 
noting well the great differences which there are in 
their contour and shape* will do more than any de- 
scription in making their points of non-resemblance 
apparent. In the pinnules of a large specimen*, 
belonging to the P. aculeatum * those pinnules are 
attached to the rachis by a long point; they are 
rhomboidal in form* the auricle small* the top 
