FERNY COMBES. 
103 
All tlie species of Cystopteris are exceedingly fra¬ 
gile in their texture and variable in their form. 
On the same plant (when growing wild) you may 
find fronds which you can refer respectively to the 
varieties angustata , dentata, and fragilis; this, at 
least, is the opinion we have formed after seeing 
and comparing great numbers of wild plants. We 
have had the pleasure of seeing the Cystopteris in 
three native habitats. In a lonely glen in Wales, 
far away from the ordinary track of travellers, w r e 
found the rocks literally fringed with it. 
At the Devil’s Bridge, near Aberystwith, a small 
variety grows ; and we found small plants exactly 
corresponding with them in great profusion on a 
garden-wall by the side of the high-road between 
Bristol and Bridgewater. These seem to be the 
true dentata , as they remain dwarf, and less divided 
than fragilis under cultivation. In Devon, C. 
fragilis is reported to grow in the immediate vi¬ 
cinity of Exeter, and has recently been found near 
Ilfracombe. 
C. Dickieana is a very peculiar and striking 
variety. The pinnules, instead of being separate 
and lace-like as in the ordinary form, are blunt, 
broad, and tiled one over the other, so that when 
dried you can hardly distinguish the divisions. 
C. montana is triangular in form, and very ele- 
