86 
HISTORY OE BRITISH FERNS. 
naked, and gramme, a line ; alluding to the lines of spore- 
cases, without covering membranes. 
Gymnogramma leptophylla, Desvaux. 
The Slender Gymnogram. (Plate XXII. fig. 1.) 
This is a small Fern, of short duration, springing up 
from the spores in the autumn of each year, attaining 
maturity early in the following summer, and afterwards 
quickly drying up and disappearing. Each plant consists 
of a tuft of about half a dozen fronds, of which the earlier 
are short and fan-shaped, divided only into two or three 
lobes ; succeeding ones grow an inch or two in length, and 
become pinnate, with obliquely fan* shaped three-lobed 
pinnae ; and finally others appear taller and more erect in 
growth, and more abundantly fertile. These more perfect 
fronds, the latest produced by the plant, are from three to 
six inches high, ovate in outline, and two or three times 
pinnate. The pinnae are alternate, ovate, with alternate 
pinnules. The ultimate pinnules are roundish wedge- 
shaped, three-lobed at the apex, the lobes rather distinct, 
and usually notched at the end. The veins in each pin¬ 
nule become branched, so that one of the small veins 
proceeds towards each of the teeth into which the pinnule 
