THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION. —August 5,1850. 323 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
1 Day of 
1 Month. 
Day of 
1 Week. 
1 
AUGUST 6—11, 1856. 
WEATnER NEAR LONDON IN 
1855. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
5 
To 
Lycaena Argiolus. 
30.022—29.Q29 
73—41 
s.w. 
_ 
32 a 4 
40 a 7 
9 
20 
5 
5 
41 
218 
6 
W 
Prince Alfred born, 1844 
30.062—29.866 
73—55 
s. 
.11 
33 
38 
9 
29 
6 
5 
35 
219 
7 
Tu 
Hesperia Comma. 
29.755—29.664 
73—56 
s.w. 
.44 
35 
36 
9 
41 
7 
5 
28 
220 
8 
F 
Smerinthus ocellatus. 
29.650—29.626 
72 — 54 
s.w. 
.50 
36 
34 
q 
55 
8 
5 
21 
221 
9 
S 
Smerinthus Tilise 
29.918—29-828 
71—38 
w. 
.00 
38 
32 
10 
13 
5 
12 
222 
10 
Son 
12 Sunday after Trinitv. 
30.151—30.043 
76-49 
w. 
— 
40 
31 
38 
10 
5 
4 
223 
11 
M 
Sphinx Elpenor. 
30.201—30.145 
80—56 
w. 
— 
41 
29 
11 
17 
n 
4 
54 
224 
Meteorology of the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, |the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 71 . 2 °, and 51.4°, respectively. The greatest heat, 93°, occurred on the 10th, in 1842 j and the lowest cold, 36°, on 
the 6th, in 1833, During the period 114 days were fine, and on 82 rain fell. 
LASTRjE’A FI'LIX-MAS. 
Thts has been called by various botanists a Polypodium , 
an Aspidium, a Polystichum, and a Dryopteris ,- but in 
every instance they adopted the specific name, filix-mas, 
! because it is the acknowledged “Male Fern” of our 
I most ancient herbalists. Male Fern is its most generally 
admitted English name; but it has also been called 
Male Polypody, Male Shield Fern, and Common Buckler 
Fern. 
Root blank, tufted, scaly, large, with numerous dark 
brown, deeply - penetrating rootlets. Fronds several, 
rising in a circle, erect, from two to four feet high. The 
general outline would be spear-head shaped, if the 
lowest pair of leaflets were not much shorter than those 
next above them, rendering the form more ovate, but 
pointed. Less than a fifth of the stem is without leaflets, ; 
but this unleafleted portion is covered with a profusion ! 
of chaffy scales, which extend, indeed, over the entire 
stalk and mid ribs. Leaflets alternate, very equal in 
width until near their point, when they rapidly taper 
to a point. Leaflts oblong, blunt, roundish-toothed, j 
numerous, crowded, stalkless, for the most part distinct, | 
! but sometimes rather united at the base ; both surfaces 
; smooth, but there is an indent on the upper surface, 
over the place where is each mass of fructification. 
Fructification in circular masses, tawny, ranged closely 
| in short rows near each side of the lower half of the ! 
| mid-rib of each leafit; cover ( indusium ) kidney-shaped, j 
durable, scolloped, swollen, with a cleft terminating iu \ 
the centre. Spores numerous, shining brown, prominent, 'j 
round, and just beyond the edge of the cover. 
Three varieties of this Fern occur, and have beeu 
thus well particularised by Mr. Charles Johnson :— 
“ 1. incisa. Frond robust, broadly lanceolate : pinnre j 
distant; pinnules distinct, elongate, narrow, acuminate, 
deeply incised, the lobes serrated. Sori extending nearly 
the entire length of the pinnules. Lastrea Filix-mas, /3. 
incisa, Mnorc, Handbook Brit. Ferns, 50. Aspidium Filix- 
mas, 0. erosum. Hooker and Arnott. Dryopteris affinis, 
Neuman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 187. 
“ 2. abbreviata. Frond small, lanceolate, pinnate. Sori 
confined to the base of contracted or obsolete pinnules, i 
forming a linear series on each side of the mid-vein of the I 
pinnse. Lastrea Filix-mas, 0. abbreviata, Babington. Poly- ; 
stiehum abbreviature, He Candolle. 
« 3. Borreri. Frond narrow lanceolate. Rachis clothed 
with ruddy-golden scales and hairs. Sori few, large, two or j 
three pairs at the base of each pinnule. Dryopteris Filix- 
mas, var. Borreri, Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 189. 
“ Of these, the variety incisa is far from uncommon; 
abbreviata has been found on Ingleborough, Yorkshire, on 
the basaltic cliffs of Teesdale, and in the Peak district, 
Derbyshire, everywhere apparently in dry localities ; Borreri 
seems to be common, though first observed by Mr. Borrer, 
in Devonshire, as a variety ‘ with more copious and brighter- 
coloured scales on the rachis, and with a bright golden- j 
yellow tinge on the whole frond.’ Brit. Flora. 
“Abbreviata retains its distinguishing features in all ^ 
soils and under different treatment in cultivation, and may 
perhaps eventually prove a separate species.” (Sowerby's 
Ferns .) 
This is too common a Fern to require the places 
where it is found to be particularised; indeed, the 
difficulty would be to find any wide-extended district 
where it could not be discovered. 
Mr. W. Reeve observes upon this Fern, that it is a 
No. CCCCX. Vol. XYI. 
