THE BUCKLER FERNS. 
391 
arrangement of the leaflets and lobes, needs to be 
very similar to that of Dilatata , the difference in 
the case of Spinulosa being that the leaflets, in¬ 
stead of being curled back, as in Dilatata , are 
straight. The edges of the lobes, too, are spiny 
and sharply serrated. The fronds do not attain 
anything like the same length as those of Dilatata. 
One peculiarity which will be easily noted about 
Spinulosa is, that the tops of the incipient fronds, 
in making their appearance just above ground, 
are naked and green in colour, instead of being 
covered with chaff-coloured scales, as in the case 
of Dilatata. 
The Prickly-toothed Buckler Fern grows in 
boggy situations, delighting in an atmosphere of 
moisture, and in a saturated soil. We found it in 
Devonshire, in a bog which lay under a wood at 
the bottom of a hill. There it was growing at the 
feet of the mounds of moss surmounting the roots 
of the sedge-grasses. 
In cultivation it must have incessant moisture, 
especially at its roots, where it should be sodden. 
Peat and leaf-mould should compose the soil— 
peat preponderating. It is a really beautiful Fern, 
