THE SOFT PRICKLY SHIELD FERN. 145 
outline of the little trapeziform pinnules. In all other respects it 
is normal The pinnules are sharply, but simply toothed. The 
prettiest forms we have seen are from—Devonshire, @. B. Wollaston. 
Somersetshire: Nettlecombe, C. Elworthy. Yorkshire: Whitby, 
W. Willison. These have fronds about a foot high with a cau- 
dately attenuated apex. Other analogous forms are from—South 
Devonshire, Miss A. Hoseason. Yorkshire: Black Moor near 
Helmsley, A. Clapham. Antrim, Ireland, A. Stansfield. 
4. affine (M.). An elegant form with the aspect of a slender P. 
aculeatum. Mr. Wollaston regards it as a distinct species, and calls 
it P. affine. The fronds are long-stiped, dark-coloured, firm, lanceo- 
late, attenuated at the apex. The pinnules are ovate-falcate, 
blunt, bluntly aurieled, rather convex, finely and indistinctly ser- 
rated. It was found at Hartley in Hampshire, by Mr. Wollaston. 
5. acutum (Woll.). This form, which in general aspect is normal, 
has the pinnules acute, and very distinctly stalked, more elongated 
than in Aastulatum (2), rather narrow, often falcate, and strongly 
auricled; the larger forms are lobate-serrate, but sometimes the 
serratures are only slightly developed, the apices of both the pin- 
nules and auricles being however aristate. It has been found in— 
Sussex and Hampshire, by Mr. Wollaston. Lancashire: Moorhills 
Clough, near Bromley, A. Stansfield. A thin-textured form (acutum 
dissectum), having the same narrow elongated acute pinnules, but 
more lobate, and growing to a considerable size, has been found in— 
Westmoreland: Whitbarrow, F. Clowes. Somersetshire: Nettle- 
combe, C. Elworthy. Devonshire: Barnstaple, C. Jackson. 
6. aristatum (Woll.). This, although not unlike the normal state 
of the species in its form and habit, differs in having the points of 
the serratures much more distinctly aristate, the long hair-like 
points standing forwards in a remarkable way, giving the plant a 
bristly appearance. The original variety found by Mr. Wollaston 
in Sussex, is, moreover, proliferous, producing its bulbils on the 
stipes, either beneath or at the surface of the ground. Another 
remarkable aristate form has been sent from Shebden Dale, near 
Halifax, by Mr. Stansfield. 
7. incisum (Woll.). This variety, of which there are two forms, 
is a large-growing plant. The pinnules are very dissimilar in size 
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