ON THE VARIETIES OF BRITISH FERNS, ETC. 
413 
yet seen no case in which it could not be easily distinguished by its larger bottom 
pinnse, wedge-shaped pinnules, and single bundle of spiral vessels seen in a section 
of the stipes; in lanceolatum there are two bundles, the bottom pinnae are smaller, 
and the pinnules ovate or obovate. 
Specimens gathered at Barmoth, by Mr. Wilson, approach nearer adiantum- 
nigrum than any I have seen, but even in this instance they are easily dis¬ 
tinguished by the characteristics above-mentioned. Bolton figures lanceolatum 
as a variety of this species. 
Messrs. Wilson and MacKay find in Ireland a variety with linear pinnules. 
I have seen a specimen of it gathered in Cheshire; this has been considered by 
some as a drawn-up state. I have a frond intermediate between this and the 
common plant, which certainly has not much the appearance of being drawn up. 
This species varies in size from two inches to eighteen. 
Asplenium filix-foemina. 
Hook., Brit. Flo ., Edit. 3, p. 453; Edit. 4, 388, 
Bolton’s Fil. Brit., p. 46, fig. 25. 
Francis’ Ferns . p. 42, pi. 3, fig. 10. 
Withering’s Bot. (MacGillivray), p. 382. (Aspidium fil.foem.) 
Mr. Francis mentions three varieties of this plant :— 
(3, rachis red, somewhat scaly; 
7, (irriguum), pinnse distant, and tender. 
Frond broad, and small; pinnae and pinnules short, few, nearly 
white. 
The only state of this species I have seen, differing from the common one, has 
a small (about eight inches) tender frond, primary pinnules on the upper margin 
very little larger, no broader, and no more auricled than their neighbours, smaller 
than those on the lower margin, which are in almost all eases remarkably bent 
out from the main rachis, covered with sori. 
This I have always considered as irriguum of Smith ; if I am wrong, I should 
feel obliged for the diagnostic of irriguum verum. 
Scolopendrium vulgare. 
Hook., Brit. Flo., Edit. 3, p. 454 ; Edit. 4, p. 389. 
Bolt., Fil. Brit. (Asplenium scolopendrium), p. 12, tab. 8, 
Francis’ Ferns, p. 43, pi. 3, fig. 11. 
With., Bot. (MacGilliv.), p. 384. 
There are two varieties of this species,— (3. crispum, and y. multifidum / the 
former of these is formed by a greater development of frond at the edges than 
3 G 2 
