260 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
merged. Each one of the side branches is again 
divided, and bears on its midrib successive pairs 
of leaflets, sometimes placed opposite each other, 
and sometimes placed alternately. These are 
longest at the part of the branch near the central 
midrib of the frond, and gradually diminish in 
, length as they reach the extreme point of the 
branch, until they terminate in a point. In fine 
specimens of the Bracken, the leaflets on the side 
branches of the frond are again divided—this time 
into lobes, which are arranged in pairs on the rib 
of the leaflet. The lobes are narrow, and oblong 
in shape, with broad bases and bluntish tops, each 
lobe at the base of the branches at the lower por¬ 
tion of the frond being distinct—that is to say, 
disconnected from the lobes on each side of it; 
but towards the tips of the lower branches, and 
on all the branches at the highest part of the 
frond, the division between the lobes on each 
leaflet is not carried down to the rib of the leaflet, 
which in such a case presents somewhat the ap¬ 
pearance of a double-edged saw. At the backs, 
and along the margins of the lobes of the Bracken, 
lie the spore-cases in countless myriads, covered 
