THE LADY FERN 
203 
tiveness is lost. In the. same way the distinctiveness of the 
pairs of pinnae becomes lost at the apex of the frond. The 
veining of the pinnules can be very clearly seen if the frond 
be examined against the light. The mid-vein of each pinnule 
takes a wavy course from base to apex. From it proceed 
alternate venules, sometimes single and sometimes forked — 
terminating in the segments of the pinnule. Upon these 
venules the spore cases are clustered in roundish or kidney- 
shaped heaps, generally midway between the edges of the 
pinnules and the mid- veins, and on each side of the latte] 1 . 
The clusters, or sori, are so arranged that they look to the 
naked eye like lines of little brownish spots — five or six in 
each line — running parallel with and on each side of the mid- 
veins. They are covered at first by kidney-shaped indusia, 
which are fringed on the side towards the mid-veins of the 
pinnules, and which as the spore cases grow and become ripe 
burst and liberate them, and are then thrown back and 
disappear. If the sori be then examined with a powerful 
glass it will be seen that they are little heaps of shining, 
roundish, or pear-shaped cases of a light-reddish, chaffy 
colour, in which are contained the minute dust-like spores. 
In the British Islands alone there are no less than three 
hundred variations from the normal form of the Lady Fern 
which has been described, each of which bears a separate 
Latin name, and many of which — the Ferns, not the Latin 
names — are extremely beautiful. It will be a delightful 
occupation for the Fern lover to hunt for all the varieties of 
normal species of these beautiful plants. But it is not 
necessary to burden the memory with a Latin name for each 
variety, especially if it be remembered that varieties are to a 
large extent merely accidental departures from the normal 
forms, and frequently do not preserve their peculiarities 
under cultivation. All the varieties of the Lady Fern are 
deciduous, their fronds disappearing on the icy approach of 
