THE SHIELD FERNS. 
2 . 
THE SOFT PRICKLY SHIELD FERN. 
Po lys tichum a ng u lave . 
Plate 3, Fig. 2. 
SOTHING puzzled us more in our earlier 
Fern-hunting excursions than the dis- 
tinction between the Hard and Soft 
Prickly Shield Ferns. The two Ferns are usually 
considered as distinct species, although some 
botanists rank them both as one species under 
the name of Polystichum aculeatum — regarding 
Angular e merely as a variety. We have chosen 
to consider them as distinct species, and shall 
now indicate the points of difference which we 
have noted, showing at the same time up to what 
point the two Ferns are like each other. In 
being generally distributed throughout the United 
Kingdom the one resembles the other. Both 
ordinarily grow in the same situations, and the 
fronds of Angulare, like those of Aculeatum. ,, are 
lance- shaped, and grow oftentimes to a length 
