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little leaves. The rachis of a pinna is sometimes waved and 
often of a purple colour. Some pinnae are nearly a foot 
long. The leaflets are much more deeply toothed than in 
the variety incisum. Several of the finer ones are two 
inches long. The covers run nearly in a straight line. The 
clusters of fruit are in the slit, and their position is by no 
means symmetrical. When the pinnules have no stalk, they 
have a rather broad attachment. The preceding varieties 
have each pinna distant from the next, and in dried 
specimens appear quite distinct. In this variety the 
vegetation is so luxuriant that one crowds upon and laps 
over its neighbour, so that it cannot by any contrivance be 
separated. In the variety No. 1 the lobes of the leaflets 
are toothed at their edges, but the teeth are not very long 
or very conspicuous. In this, the much longer teeth and 
jagged edges of the lobes have a most pleasing and delightful 
effect on the eye. The leaves are flat, not bent down as 
they are in the convex or erect Lady Fern. JSTo bristle 
points are visible as in the Prickly Fern. This beautiful, 
charming, and lovely variety is another of those interesting 
plants with which our neighbourhood is so richly supplied, 
and it seems that a journey must be taken to Yorkshire ere 
we can find it growing in its natural haunt again. It grows 
in a meadow in the southern division of Stockland parish. 
In this instance we see a striking difference between a 
species and a variety. To an ordinary eye, or to a young 
botanist, it would appear that the Plumous Lady Fern was 
most certainly a distinct species. The plant appears so 
much superior, the vegetation so remarkably more luxuriant, 
the various lobes and leaflets so deeply and elegantly cut, 
that it could never be imagined to be identical with the 
usual form of this Fern. When, however, any one sits 
down and attempts to point out any unvarying distinction, 
he perceives that the difference only consists in the fuller 
development of the plant and the magnified representation 
of every feature. 
4. Ovate Lady Fern. Ovatum. Both. This is a large 
form of a lax character having fronds about three feet high, 
and broadly egg-shaped. The pinnae are linear oblong, 
tapering towards their extremity. The leaflets are oblong, 
