24 
RAMBLES IN SEARCH OF FERNS. 
bourhood. It is a smaller fern than many of its family, and is of a 
tender succulent habit. The wet ground of Knutsford Moor suits it 
well; some of its fronds are barren, and some fertile, and the seed 
masses are more distant from one another than in the other species. 
The cover falls off very early. The form of the frond is what is called 
linear -lanceolate — i.e., long in comparison to its breadth, and tapering 
to the ends. 
Another friend contributed a fern from Ingleborough, the Rigid 
Shield fern (L. rigida , Fig. 6). Its form is generally upright, and it . 
is of lower growth than the spreading species, seldom much exceeding 
a foot in height. The stem is thick — hence, doubtless, arises its rigidity, 
and extremely scaly ; indeed, all the stems of this family are adorned 
with scales, excepting the Marsh Lastrjea. 
I was well contented with the assemblage of Shield ferns which I 
had got together, but I was not the less delighted when extra ones 
were added to my list. Some friends of mine had had the good fortune 
to find the Recurved species near Benenden, in Kent, although it is 
generally ascribed to Cornwall. The specimens they sent to me were 
from a foot to a foot and a-half in height, but they said that the plant 
reached a greater stature in Cornwall. The leaflets were depressed 
in the centre, and gave a curly appearance to the frond, which thus 
resembled a gigantic leaf of parsley. The same beneficent friends 
bestowed upon me specimens of the Crested Shield fern (A. cristata, 
Fig. 7) from their fernery. They believed to have found this in the 
Bedgebury Woods, but they dared not swear to the identity of the 
plants. The narrow and erect fronds, with the broader and more 
distant pinnae, give the fern a very characteristic appearance, and if 
the wild specimens inclosed were not true Cristata, they certainly 
belonged to a very marked variety of Dilatata. The seed covers of 
Cristata have plain margins, not notched like Dilatata, but they had 
vanished from the plants in question ; so, contrary to my habit and 
my taste, I was obliged to leave the question in doubt. 
