174 
ASPIDIACEiE. 
with large reddish scales. The plant appears to prefer a hori- 
zontal to a vertical surface ; its habit is weak, flexible, graceful 
and drooping ; a number of fronds issue from the crown of the 
rhizoma, and, when uninterrupted, spread from a common cen- 
tre, presenting a very beautiful appearance : the texture of the 
frond is soft and delicate, its form lanceolate and pinnate : the 
pinnae are very numerous, elongate, linear, distinct, often dis- 
tant, drooping and pinnate ; the pinnules are blunt at the apex, 
auricled at the base, distinctly stalked and serrated at the edges, 
and each serrature is armed with a spine : every part of the 
under surface of the fronds, more especially the primary and 
secondary stems, abounds in reddish chaffy scales. 
When we select a specimen of this plant in its extreme state, 
and contrast it with a specimen of P. aculeaUim, also in its ex- 
treme state, — when we select a central pinnule of each, and lay 
them before us side by side, on a sheet of paper, the difference 
is so striking, that were our observations allowed no wider range, 
we must exercise much sophistry in inducing even ourselves to 
suppose them identical. The distinctly stalked pinnules of an- 
gulare (fig. a), set on the stem at a more obtuse angle than that 
of the decurrent pinnules of aculeatum (fig. h), offer instantly a 
character which it is impossible to resist: and this, added to the 
discrepancy in the habit, texture and figure of the frond, must 
lead the botanist to pronounce them perfectly distinct. It is. 
