Tfll? COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.—.Tn.v lit), 1S58. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
301) 
0’S 
»»-. e 
ei O 
^ 
Day of 
\V eek. 
JULY 29—AUGUST 4, 1856. 
Weather ne 
Barometer. 
ar London in 
Thermo. Wind. 
1855. 
lUin in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
It. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
29 
To 
Bombyx Coryli. 
29.9 27—2Q.899 
77—53 I XV. 
__ 
21 a 4 
51 a 7 
0 55 
27 
6 
9 
2LI 
30 
tv 
Bombyx gonostigmata. 
29.872—29.828 
75—55 1 s.vv. 
.24 
23 
50 
1 59 
28 
6 
212 
31 
Th 
Midaria rotunda. 
29.750—29.736 
71—42 SAV. 
.14 
24 
48 
sets. 
@ 
6 
4 
213 
1 
F 
Lycsena Chryseis. 
29-853—2Q-7/3 
74-54 | SAY. 
.02 
26 
45 
8 a 33 
1 
6 
1 
214 
2 
s 
Lyciena Virgaureie. 
29.82 4-29-728 
76—50 ! S. XV. 
0.07 
27 
45 
8 48 
2 
5 
5/ 
215 
3 
Sun 
l! Sunday after Trinity. 
29 - 780 — 29.639 
74—52 1 s.w. 
— 
29 
43 
8 59 
3 
5 
52 
216 
4 
M 
Lyciena Phlieas. 
29 713—29.664 
72-53 1 SAY. 
.01 
30 
41 
; 9 10 
4 
5 
4 7 
217 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 74.6°, and 51.8°, respectively. The greatest heat, 92°, occurred on the 1st, in 1846; and the lowest cold, 3S°, on 
the 3rd, in 1847. During the period 96 days were fine, and on 100 rain fell. 
LA STILE'A DILATA'TA \ Broad Prickly Fern; Great Shield Fern; ami Diluted 
Shield Fern. 
j There lias been nincli “learned dust” raised relative 
i to this Fern, its alleged varieties, and its want- of dis- 
t tinct specific characters when compared with Lastrcea 
; spinubsa. The doubts and “ dust” are occasioned, we 
think, by the admitted fact that L. dilatata varies very 
much in form and stature in accordance with the situa- 
I tion where it grows. It lias been called by botanists 
! Aspidium dilatation and A. spinulosum; Lastrcea multi- 
flora ; Lophodium multiflorum; Poly podium arista turn, 
P. cristatum, and P. dilatatum; and Polystichum multi¬ 
florum. In English it is known as Broad Sharp-toothed 
Shield Fern; Broad Prickly-toothed Buckler Fern; 
Root black, tufted, not at all creeping, but large, erect, 
and almost entitled to be described as tuberous. Fronds 
varying in size from a few inches to two feet, and in 
very favourable situations twice that heighth; they 
rise from the root-stock in a circular cluster, and bear 
some resemblance to the capital of a Corinthian column. 
They are erect, broad, spreading, light green, and spear¬ 
head shaped in their general outline; their leaflets have 
a similar form, and are so deep cut, or pinnatifid, into 
long, blunt, parallel, deeply-toothed, sharp-pointed 
segments, that they seem doubly lcafited; indeed, the 
lower pair are so. The main stalk is slender, slightly 
scaly throughout its length, but mostly so where there : 
are no leaflets; the stalks of the leaflets, also, are slightly 
scaly. The leaflets are rather alternate than opposite, 
and the leafits are, for the most part, also alternate. 1 
Fructification numerous, and Dearer the midrib than- i 
the edge of each leaflet; at first swollen and kidney¬ 
shaped, but the cover ( indusium ), when burst, becomes 
circular, with a deep cut iu its lower side. 
We have observed how much this Fern varies in 
form, and the best particulars relative to this character- j 
istic are the following by Mr. Francis: — 
“ If it grow in a situation which is wet in the spring and | 
dried up in the summer, as on the margin of a pond, it will 
become var. /S, very dark, large, and quite drooping. Con¬ 
tinued wet will elongate the leaf and separate the pinnae and 
I pinnules as in var. 7 . A young plant is only twice pinnate 
and fiat. A dry and rocky, or a confined situation will 
render the leaf small and less divided, the pinnules blunt, 
deflexed, and drooping: thus starved it becomes the Aspidium 
dumetorum of Smith (var. 5). I know not the nature of the 
habitats in which the recurved var. («) of Rree grows. [It 
is said to grow both in dry and wet shady places, preferring 
moisture. But all the recorded localities are in damp 
climates.— Ed.] The varieties recurvum and dumetorum are, 
I believe, not ultered by cultivation, and Sir J. E. Smith 
implies, in his description of the latter, that its spores 
produce the same variety. 
ct ( dilatation ). Frond sub-tripinnate, triangular, ovate. 
Pinnules petioled. 
fi (-). Frond tripinnate, deflexed, triangular. ! 
Pinnules convex. 
7 (-). Frond tripinnate, triangular, elongated. 
Pinnules somewhat decurrent, and dis- j 
taut from each other. 
5 (dumetorum). Frond small, triangular, drooping. Pin¬ 
nules blunt. 
e ( recurvum , Bree). Frond small. Pinnules concave, and 
dark green, Newm. p. 01. Las train 
Fucnisecii, Bab. Lophodium Feenisecii, 
Newm. 1804." 
We only differ from Mr. Francis in considering that 
No. CCCCIK. Vox,. XVI. 
