44 
Plate I, fig, 9. 
“ Thy desire, which tends to know 
The works of God, thereby to glorify 
The great Work-master, leads to no excess 
That reaches blame, but rather merits praise. 
For wonderful indeed are all His works, 
Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all 
Had in remembrance always with delight.” — Milton. 
5. Spinous Pern. Lastrea spinulosa. This Pern is more 
erect than the two preceding species. Neither do its leaflets 
curl upwards, and if they slope at all it is very slightly 
downwards. All three are tripinnate, i, e, the pinnules of the 
pinnae are pinnate, or in other words the branchlets of the 
branches are branched. Sometimes in this species the frond 
is only bipinnate, and Hooker so describes it. The lower 
part of the stem is not as in the case of the other two 
thickly covered with scales, but sparingly ; and these are 
round or broadly egg-shaped and transparent 
as appears in the woodcut. The stem is stout, 
the root creeping, and the plant does not lie 
compactly together, but is of a straggling growth. 
The frond is long and narrow, and the six lower- 
most pinnae on each side are of the same length 
and form therefore a parallelogram. After this 
the frond begins to taper to a point, and the 
pinnae as they approach the summit become 
shorter and shorter. The under pinnules of the 
first pair of pinnae are generally twice as long as the 
upper ones. The clusters of seeds seem to be distinct 
and perfectly separate, and generally form a regular double 
line. When the pinnule is deeply divided into leaflets or 
distinct lobes, then each branch of the side-vein has a cluster 
of seeds as in the Sweet Mountain Tern. In this case the 
double line of clusters does not appear so regular to the eye. 
Each lobe of the leaflet has a little awn or spine, and hence 
it is denominated the Spinous Tern. The branches are 
nearly but not quite opposite each other, and the naked 
part of the frond is as long as the leafy part. Some have 
thought that the three Terns last described are identical. 
