140 
BRITISH FERNS. 
tially deciduous, prostrate in winter; pinnae of an elon- 
gated triangular form ; pinnules ovate, serrate ; indu- 
sium not embracing the spore-cases.” The pseudo -mas 
he describes as “ sub-evergreen, not prostrate in winter, 
coriaceous ; fronds lanceolate ; pinnae elongated, trian- 
gular or pyramidal ; pinnules paralleloid or linear, 
obtuse, not auricled, serratulate ; indusium, when young, 
embracing the spore-cases, persistent, roundish, de- 
pressed.” The propinquum is a subalpine form. The 
same writer describes it as “ fronds ovate-lanceolate, 
bipinnate, a foot shorter than in the allied forms ; pinnae 
pinnate, pyramidal ; pinnules crisped, strongly auricled, 
basal pair stipitate ; indusium embracing the spore- 
cases.” 
Mr. Lowe enumerates a good number of varieties of 
the Nephr odium Filix-mas . That known as the crista - 
turn , or Crested Male-fern, with the pinnae much branched 
at the apex, so as to form a tuft or crest at the top of 
the frond, is the most familiar, and is much admired in 
ferneries. 
The var. Jervesii is also a very handsome form, of 
large stature, with lengthened pinnae, and a tasselled crest. 
The pinnules have a crisped or curled character, and 
very interesting is the effect of this fern growing in its 
chesen habitat upon the banks of the Tees. We ex- 
plored these romantic banks from the Caldron Snout, 
where the stream rushes through the chasm in the rocks 
dividing Westmoreland, Durham, and Yorkshire, to the 
splendid waterfall some five miles below, called the High 
Force, and had the pleasure of noting the crisped Filix- 
mas with all its charming surroundings. 
The var. pumilum also graced that neighbourhood, but 
its dwarfed fronds, with their comparatively large pin- 
