( 23 ) 
sent to me by Mr. James Grant. This is distinct from any form of No. 62, and 
is a delicate handsome fern. 
64. Pteris (Psosia) aquilina, Linn. 
Bed. 1 t. 42. Who has read the Lady of the Lake, or has travelled much 
in the Kandyan country, and does not know the Bracken. I have quoted the 
full description from Syn. Fil. at pp. 9-10 with familiar remarks on its uses, 
and how to get rid qf it when it becomes a pest on Coffee Estates. 
The allusions to this Fern in “ The Lady of the Lake” are the following : — 
The heath this night must be my bed, 
The blacken curtain for my head, 
My lullaby the warder’s tread, 
Far, far, from love and thee, Mary ! 
Canto III, p. 127, 
And patches bright of bracken green, 
And heather black, that waved so high, 
It held the copse in rivalry. 
# _ # # > 
From shingles grey their lances start, 
The "bracken bush sends forth the dart, 
# * # 
Each warrior vanished where he stood, 
In broom or bracken heath or wood./ 
- # * * 
The next but swept a lone hill-side, 
Where heath and fern were waving wide. 
# # # 
The next, all unreflected shone, 
On bracken green , and cold grey stone. 
* # ^ 
The riddle is already read. 
Seek yonder brake beneath the cliff, — 
There lies Red Murdock, stark and stiff. 
Canto V, pp. 194, 202, 204, 205, 207. 
65, Pteris (Campteria) biaurita, Linn. 
Bed. T. t. 44. I have stated nearly all I had to say about this fern at 
pp. 7 — 9* I am still of the same opinion, that the Campteroid arches in this sup- 
posed species, are an accident, the cause of soil, &c. My specimens of this fern 
from the Fort ditch at Hangwelle, are broad, large, and coarse compared with 
the common forms of P. 4-aurita. The plants of P. (C.) biaurita, cultivated by 
me have invariably lost their Campteroid Arches after some time. Bed. 1. t . 44 
is evidently taken from a young frond. Thwaites’s C. P, 1048 for this fern, 
with its long narrow and delicate pinnules, is very different from the broad 
stiff coriaceous specimens procured in the Western Province, but I feel confident 
they are all one species, though I give this one a place here. After the letter- 
press of Pteris patens, Hk. Colonel Beddome has the following very appropriate 
notes : — 
Sir W. Hooker informs me that “ Campteria Anam allay ensis,” (Bed. 1. t. 45) 
of this work is “ Campteria geminata” of Agardh, which species is referred by 
Sir W. Hooker as a synonym to “ Campteria biaurita” (L). I feel quite certain 
that the two species C. Anamallay ensis and bi-aurita are quite distinct, the 
venation and whole habit are different; if my plant is the same as Agardh’s, 
the name “ Anamallayensis” will however have to be changed to “ geminata.” 
Campteria nemoralis, Willd. or what I take to be that species is not uncom- 
mon in the Presidency. In outline and general appearance it is in no way diffe- 
rent from Pteris quadriaurita Retz., but whilst some entire fronds have quite the 
venation of Pteris and are consequently not distinguishable from “P, quadri- 
aurita,” other fronds or some of their pinnae have the venation of Campteria, 
but with smaller costal areoles and fewer free veins than in “ C. bi-aurita.” 
I have always found this fern growing in localities where both Pteris quadri- 
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