246 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
this fern, the branches are placed on each side 
in pairs. Each branch has a row of lobes on its 
upper and under side, clearly divided from each 
other, but not divided quite down to the mid- 
stem of the branch. The branches, which are 
narrowly lance-shaped, have thus the appearance 
of being very deeply notched or toothed — the 
points of the lobes being bluntish or round- 
pointed — and their bases, being run together, give 
the appearance of a leafy wing on each side of 
the mid-stem of the branch. Towards the point 
of the frond the branches diminish in length, and 
become less in breadth, the lobes becoming gradu- 
ally less and less deeply cut in, until they are 
finally mere serratures ; which, in turn, disappear 
as the branches merge in the point of the frond, 
which then itself becomes notched, finally ending 
in a point. A perfectly grown specimen of the 
Mountain Buckler Fern has an extremely elegant 
aspect. It is — although in some of its features 
like the Male Fern — more delicate in its general 
appearance than that species : there is a more 
delicate tint of a lighter, more golden green about 
