37 
credulous and superstitious, we may venture to state that 
God in His mercy has given us this excellent herb as one 
of the best remedies for tsenia or tapeworm. It appears to 
have been used by the ancient physicians Theophrastus, 
Dioscorides, and Galen. Professor Christison, in the Edin- 
burgh Monthly Journal for June 1852, and July 1853, has 
shown that it is almost uniformly successful in the form 
of an oleoresinous extract obtained by percolation of the 
root with ether. He indeed commends it as a less dis- 
agreeable and more efficient anthelmintic than the Abyssin- 
ian Kousso, the Continental pomegranate, or the American 
turpentine. 
There is no dfficulty in the cultivation of this Fern. Sup- 
ply it with rich vegetable mould in a shady place and keep 
it rather moist, and it will flourish. It needs not so much 
water as either the Eoyal Flowering or Mountain Fern. 
Newman 'places the three next species under a different 
genus, which he calls Lophodium (plumed or feathered). It 
seems letter and simpler to retain them among the Shield 
Ferns (Lastrea ) . Let it, however, le rememlered with regard 
to these, that the first upper Iranchlet (pinnule) of the lowest 
pinnae is much shorter than the first under Iranchlet, Vide 
Flate I fig, 8 and %, and Flate II fig, 10. 
/ 
