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THE FERN WORLD 
or cleft pinnules, upon the under surface of which are 
home the sori. Often when fully ripe the fructification 
of this beautiful Fern — which is from its fragile and delicate 
nature deciduous, the frond dying on the approach of 
winter — becomes confluent, and nearly covers the whole 
under-surface of the frond. There are nearly twenty varia- 
tions from the normal form of Cystopteris fragil is . 
Distribution. — Over a very widely extended portion 
of the Fern world this beautiful species is found. It 
is an inhabitant of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, 
occurring in, amongst other places, the following : — Generally 
throughout Europe, and as far north as Greenland ; also in 
the Altai and Ural Mountains, in Affghanistan, Asia 
Minor, the Himalayan Mountains, Kamtschatka, Nepal, 
Siberia, Simla, and Thibet ; in Abyssinia, at the Cape of 
Good Hope, in the Azores, in the Canary Islands, and 
in Madeira ; in the Bahama Group, in California, Canada, 
Chili, Columbia, Cuba, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, New 
Grenada, Peru, Quito, Tasmania, and in the United States ; 
also in the islands of the Atlantic. In England, it is found 
in the counties of Chester, Cumberland, Derby, Devon, 
Dorset, Durham, Essex, Gloucester, Hereford, Kent, Lan- 
caster, Leicester, Monmouth, Norfolk, Northampton, North- 
umberland, Nottingham, Salop, Somerset, Stafford, Suffolk, 
Surrey, Sussex, Warwick, Westmoreland, Wilts, Worcester, 
and York. In Wales it is an inhabitant of the counties of 
Anglesea, Brecknock, Carmarthen, Cardigan, Denbigh, 
Flint, Glamorgan, Merioneth, Montgomery, and Radnor. In 
Scotland, it is found in the counties of Aberdeen, Argyle, 
Berwick, Caithness, Clackmannan, Dumbarton, Dumfries, 
Edinburgh, Elgin, Fife, Forfar, Inverness, Kincardine, 
Kirkcudbright, Lanark, Linlithgow, Nairn, Perth, Boss, 
Stirling, and Sutherland, as well as in the Isles of Orkney 
and Harris. In Ireland it is somewhat rare, occurring only 
