\ in it confined to tlie margin. 
x ed, while in Blechnum the ex- 
_ fby the son. 
% Greek name for a Fern, and is derived from 
another Greek word, which signifies feather; and, of course, 
is applied in reference to the graceful feather-like aspect 
which the fronds of Ferns generally possess. When the 
»•» numo) ui Mic ucuuc uf Female Fern, whivjx 
rcely seems appropriate to the commoner uncouth-looking 
n which the plant more usually bears. 
The botanical *,x««xmx „ x ™» 
that of Eupteris aquilina has also been proposed 
This Fem has a caudex that creeps very extensively be¬ 
neath the surface of the soil. This caudex is tTii^lHsh, black- 
^ -MWP--—- -wJ variously described, and 
often erroneously, for they are not unfrequently said to be 
three-branched; but except when very much starved and 
stunted, do not approach that form very nearly. They are, 
m reality, bipinnate, or when very luxuriant tripinnate, the 
pinnae standing opposite in pairs, each pair in succession 
becoming folly developed, while the main rachis is extending 
upwards, and the next pair is beginning to unfold. The 
mature fronds are thus twice or thrice pinnate, with the pairs 
of pinnae standing opposite. The stipes is downy while 
young, ana the part under ground is black, like the creeping 
stem itself and spindle-shaped just at the base. Average 
specimens of the fronds are tripinnate, that is, they produce 
a certain number of pairs of branch-like pinnae, which 
branches are bipinnate. We must confine our further 
description to one of these branches, selected from the lower 
part of the frond. The general form is ovate, a little elon- 
“* jjf its pinnae (the secondary pinnae) narrow 
■ latte - r are P lac ? d rather closely together, 
of the undivided form 1 
