128 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
the frond, and gradually diminish in length as they 
reach the extreme point of the branch, until they 
terminate in a point. In fine specimens of the 
Bracken, the leaflets on the side branches of the 
frond are again divided — this time into lobes, 
which are arranged in pairs on the rib of the 
leaflet. The lobes are narrow, and oblong in 
shape, with broad bases and bluntish tops, each 
lobe at the base of the branches at the lower 
portion of the frond being distinct — that is to say, 
disconnected from the lobes on each side of it ; 
but towards the tips of the lower branches, and on 
all the branches at the highest part of the frond, 
the division between the lobes on each leaflet is 
not carried down to the rib of the leaflet, which in 
such a case presents somewhat the appearance of 
a double-edged saw. At the backs, and along the 
margins of the lobes of the Bracken, lie the spores 
in countless myriads, covered by a thin leaf-skin, 
and arranged in rounded lines ; at first, in colour 
of a whitish green, but becoming, as autumn 
arrives, a rich golden brown. Then the skin-cases 
which cover these infinitesimal germs of fern life 
