114 
POLYPODIACE.E. 
branches, the attachment of the capsules, and the extent of the 
circular cluster, indicated by a dotted line, are shown at fig. d. 
In form of frond the Common Polypody is tolerably uniform; 
it is however subject to a few variations, some of which are re- 
markable ; the detached pinna bearing the clusters of capsules 
(fig. c) shows a strongly serrated variety, and the entire frond 
(fig. e) has the termination of the pinnae bifid. Another variety, 
which is perfectly barren, is so strongly serrated, that Linneus 
considered it a distinct species, and described it under the name 
of Polypodium Camhricum : the identical frond, named and de- 
scribed by that great naturalist, is now in the possession of the 
Linnean Society of London. Figure on the preceding page, 
is a careful representation of this frond. I have never been suc- 
cessful in my search for this form of the Common Polypody in 
Wales, but have seen in many botanic gardens fine Irish speci- 
mens, and am indebted to Mr. Moore of the Dublin Glasnevin 
garden, for a root found in the county Wicklow many years since : 
it is still in full vigour, and its remarkable character is perfectly 
unchanged by cultivation ; Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, informs 
me that it was found by the late Mr. Templeton, in a glen at 
Bed hall, near Carrickfergus, county Antrim. Figure g represents 
a still more remarkable variety, found by Mr. Mackay, in the 
Dargle, in the county Wicklow; the frond represented was sent 
by Mr. Mackay to the late Sir J. E. Smith, and is also in the 
possession of the Linnean Society : it differs from the preceding 
variety in being fertile. 
In Ireland this species is much more subject to vary than in 
England. I have gathered a number of fronds in various parts of 
the county Kerry, which bear some slight resemblance to Mr. 
Mackay’s beautiful variety ; in those districts the frond is also 
much larger and wider, and grows with greater luxuriance. I 
must not, however, omit to record my thanks to Dr. Greville for 
a gigantic English specimen, gathered at Sidmouth; to Mr. Jen- 
ner for another gathered in Kent; and to Mr. W. Southall, jun., 
for others, deeply serrated, gathered in a lane at Moseley, near 
Birmingham. 
