16 
This fern has many varieties, some of them very curious. 
I have observed but two in this district — the one with more 
or less forked pinnules, and the variety generally known as 
“ hicistim” The latter is one of the largest and most 
beautiful forms of the male fern, frequently having deeply 
serrate pinnules fi'om an inch to an inch and a half long. 
L^SES. 
This fern (with which I believe are miited — medicinally — 
nearly all the forms of Shield, Buckler, and the Brake 
ferns) has for ages been in great repute as a remedial agent. 
It is now extensively used to obtain an setherial oil from 
the root, which oil is believed by many of our first medical 
men to be the best vermifuge we possess, notwithstanding 
the introduction of a number of foreign remedies. 
LOCALITIES. 
Common almost ever>Arhere. 
Plate VIII. 
