8 
confined to the upper part of the frond, but in fine healthy 
plants extending to the middle. 
This fern is one of the most striking and attractive in our 
English Flora, not mifrequently grovung to the height of 
four feet and even more. It is often forked at the ends of 
the fronds and pinnae. It can be, under ordinary circum- 
stances, very readily distinguished from P. angulare by its 
truly decm-rent pinnules, those of P. angulare being dis- 
tinctly stalked, and the pinnules set sharp on to the stalk, 
so that when held up to the fight distinct openings run 
along both sides of the midrib of the pinnae. This feature 
I have seen remarkably distinct in Worcestershire and 
Suffolk specimens. I have gathered the fern in most of the 
English and Welsh counties, and find the P. aculeatum to 
be, under healthy circumstances, invariably much larger and 
coarser than P. angulare. 
LOCALITIES. 
Ai’dsley and AVentbridge. 
