312 
J'HE FERN WORLD 
placed alternately along on opposite sides of the rachis, some- 
times in pairs. They are again divided on each side of their 
mid-stems into oblong blunt pinnules, which are more or less 
serrated. The division into pinnules is not carried down to 
the mid-stems of the pinnae, except in the case of the basal 
pinnules of the lowest pairs of pinnae. Towards the apex of 
each pinna, and towards the apex of the frond, the pinnules 
are pinnatifid, being less and less cleft until they become 
merged, or run together. Towards the apex of the frond, 
the pinna?, as they become shorter and shorter become 
less and less divided, until they are merely notched, 
ultimately becoming smooth, and blending into the ex- 
treme point of the frond. The system of veins is very 
distinct, consisting of a mid-vein in each pinnule, with 
forked venules extending to the margin along the greater 
part of the pinnule, the venules becoming simple just at the 
blunt point of the pinnule. The spore cases are borne 
throughout the upper half of the under surface of the frond, 
in short lines — one line on each side of the mid-vein 
of each pinnule. In form the clusters, or sori, are kidney- 
shaped, and they are covered by kidney-shaped, scaly 
covers or imlusia, which when young are of a somewhat 
leaden hue ; but, as the fructification becomes ripe, turn 
to a reddish-brown colour, like the spore cases clustered 
underneath them. There are more than seventy variations 
from the normal form of this handsome Fern, which often 
attains a height of four or five feet, though its average height 
is from two to throe feet. 
Distribution. — The Male Fern abounds throughout every 
o J 
country of Europe. It has also been discovered in the 
northern parts of Asia, in Africa, in North America, in 
Mexico, in Brazil, in the Caraccas, in New Granada, and in 
Peru. Throughout England. Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and the 
lesser islands, this Fern is so plentiful that it is unnecessary 
