286 
ON THE VARIETIES OF BRITISH FERNS, ETC. 
the rest, while in all the states of the others which have come under my notice, 
they are more or less pinnatifid or pinnate. 
As to the varieties of aculeatum , viz., angulare , and angulare Var. /3, of 
Hooker, I have had plants under cultivation which have borne fronds having the 
characters, as far as I am acquainted with them, of all three; this might have 
been the effect of cultivation : future investigation must decide. 
/3 {angulare) has the pinnules blunt, with the teeth somewhat spinulose (?). 
A . angulare (3, Hook., has the pinnules divided, forming a subtripinnate frond. 
Aspdium thelypteris. 
A. thelypteris , Brit. Flo. (Hook.), 3rd Ed., p. 450; 4th Ed., p. 385. 
44 44 Brit. Ferns and Allies (Francis), p. 29, pi. 2, fig. 6. 
44 44 With. Brit. Bot. (MacGilliv.), p. 381. 
Polipodium thelypteris , Fil. Brit. (Bolt.), p. 40, fig. 22. 
This in many points resembles A. oreopteris i but when seen growing, it is 
easily known by its creeping roots, and the smell emitted by oreopteris on drawing 
it through the hand; and when dried it is only the barren state which can be 
mistaken, the pinnse of the fertile fronds being deflexed, and curled, with the 
edges of the segments covering the lines of sori. When barren it may be known 
by its more ovate frond, smaller size, and lighter colour. 
Aspidium Jilix-mas. 
A. jilix-mas, Brit. Flo. (Hook.), 3rd Ed., p. 450. 
44 44 Brit. Ferns and Allies (Francis), p. 31, pi. 2, fig. 8. 
44 44 With. Brit. Bot. (MacGilliv.), p. 381. 
Polipodium jilix-mas , Fil. Brit. (Bolt.), p. 44, tab. 24. 
Mr. Francis mentions three varieties of this species, none of which I have yet 
seen, viz. :— 
44 /3 ( variegatum). White, tipped, and edged with green. 
7 recurvum ). Pinnse crisped, turned down, frond small, rachis smooth. 
£ {spinosun). Pinnules serrate, smaller ones blended together, larger auricled.” 
He also mentions it being found with a cormus some inches above ground, and 
a curious interesting state found by Mr. Pamplin, in Surrey, with the upper 
pinnse much branched. 
In 1837 I fathered a monstrosity in thisjneighbourhood, which, if the frond had 
been developed as usual, would have measured about twelve inches. For the 
lower five inches the rachis was almost bare, and on the next four the pinnse bore 
one, two, three, or four pinnules, somewhat in the style of an irregular frond of 
Pteris ternifolia , along which the pinnse were faded, but appeared to have been 
as in the common plant; the small lower pinnse were fertile, and distinctly 
