THE LADY PERN. 
89 
crested, but all tbe divisions are as fine as bair — hence its 
name. Besides this fine division, it has a peculiarly glassy 
translucency and silky lustre. When carefully sheltered from 
sun and wind, it grows to a fair size, and looks as if formed 
of spun glass or silk. It originated as a seedling from a 
plumose form, and occasionally betrays its origin by a pinnule, 
a pinna, or even an entire frond of the parent form making 
its appearance. Decidedly no collection should be without this. 
None of the other species have yielded a parallel sport. 
A. F.“f. orbiciilare (orb-shaped). Huge, spherical crests, 
like balls of moss, size of cricket balls; pinnse few and small. 
A. F.-f. percristatnm (much crested), J. S. Oousens. In 
this the pinnules, as well as the fronds and pinnae, are distinctly 
and symmetrically tasselled, giving the frond a very rich 
and elegant appearance. Accidental seedling at Wanstead. 
A. F.-f. plnmosnsn (feathery), Horsfall (8). A true plumose 
form, found in Yorkshire; very finely cut, and of graceful 
habit, somewhat more drooping than the other plumose forms. 
A very similar find to this yielded Kalothrix as a seedling. 
A. F.-f. plumosnm, Stansfield. A seedling from Kalothrix, 
and therefore, presumably, a reversion. Considered by the raiser 
to surpass the Horsfall variety. 
A. F.-f. plnmosnmij Axminster. (Plate I., 2). A wild find 
at Axminster. It is of robuster growth and habit than the 
preceding forms, attaining the fullest dimensions of the com- 
mon Lady Fern. It is most delicately divided, and has been 
found to produce not only spores, but also bulbils, on the 
under side of the fronds (an almost unique case of bulbils 
being found there), from which plants have been raised. A 
spore of this gave 
A. F.-f. plum, elegans (elegant). Parsons (Plate I., 3), 
in which the division of the fronds is carried much farther, 
so that they resemble very delicate lace. Nature, however, 
not yet content with her handiwork, has endowed the spores 
of this Fern with the peculiar capacity of yielding a majority 
of heavily crested plants, disfigured, however, and spoilt gene- 
rally, by gaps and .irregularities. One spore, however, specially 
gifted, has yielded 
