316 
HYMENOPHYLLACE^. 
Trichomanes speciosum. Frond angular thrice pinnated, 
lowest pinnae longest densely crowded and tripinnated, lobes of 
the pinnae linear blunt. K-achis winged, short. Receptacles two 
or three times longer than the involucra. Root thick densely 
tomentose. Habitat, Turk, Killarney ; Glouin Caragh ; Mount 
Eagle, Kerry.” 
Mr. Andrews further observes, that ‘Hhe striking character of 
the Glouin Caragh plant is the amazing length of the recepta- 
cles, which, in the growing state 
of the plant, turn up from the 
involucra in a curved manner,* 
[see figure in the margin] show- 
ing a most bristly appearance 
over the entire frond : all the 
fronds presented the lanceolate 
character, the lower pinnae be- 
ing distant and short ; the ul- 
timate segments of all the pinnae are serrated, the pinnules being 
decurrent and running to a point ; the entire length of the frond 
was sixteen inches, and from the base of the lowest pinnae to 
the apex of the frond eleven inches.” 
In opposition to the views expressed by these three eminent 
botanists, I will cite that of Mr. Moore, who says, “ I think the 
new Trichomanes to be nothing more than the old plant fully 
developed, and more attenuated in all its parts, and that this is 
caused by the dark warm habitat in which it grew. In order to 
prove whether the old plant could not be altered by being sub- 
jected to a different kind of treatment, I had a good healthy pot 
placed under the stage of a green-house, where it got very little 
light, and over the glass a piece of old carpet was thrown which 
was kept constantly saturated with water, so that I considered 
the plant placed nearly in a similar position to that in which 
the new plant was found. I soon found that the fronds might 
be lengthened to an almost incredible extent, and that they be- 
came more simple in their appearance ; in both these respects 
well agreeing with the plant discovered by Mr. Andrews.” No 
fruit has been produced, so that it remains a question whether 
the receptacle also can be elongated by this treatment. Mr. 
