











146 THE BRITISH FERNS. 
and shape; a few on the lower portion of the frond, are divided as 
in subtripinnatum, but as they approach the apex they become less 
divided, and are variously incised and irregularly laciniated or 
jagged, some here and there being depauperated ; their segments 
are again serrated, the lower anterior ones being prolonged into an 
auricle. It was found by Mr. Wollaston, at Littlehampton, in 
Sussex. Another form found by Dr. Allchin in Sussex, is of smaller 
growth, and is occasionally marked by a disruption of the epidermis 
on some of the pinnules. 
8. latum (M.). A variety with short broad ovate pinnules, resem- 
bling the continental Braunii. Fronds lanceolate, bipinnate ; pinne 
bluntish, sometimes with a cristate tendency; pinnules broad ovate 
with the anterior base enlarged, setosely-serrate, or when large 
lobate-serrate. Devonshire : Barnstaple, C. Jackson; Ilfracombe, 
J. Dodds. Somersetshire: Nettlecombe, C. Elworthy. 
9. densum (M.). This variety is of suberect habit, and is remark- 
able from the rachides and veins being densely clothed with hair- 
scales, while the stipes is thickly coated with larger and broader 
scales. The fronds are bipinnate, oblong-lanceolate, the pinne rather 
unequal in length. The pinnules are small, crowded, oblique oblong, 
bluntish, with a large distinctly separated obovate auriculiform lobe, 
and the rest of the margin lobate-serrate, with aristate teeth. It is 
an elegant form. The plant was found at Albury, Surrey, by Mr. 
Morse. [Plate XX O: from a young plant. ] 
A dense-pinnuled form (stipatum, Woll.) has been found by Mr. 
A. Tait. This is exactly lanceolate, tapering both above and below ; 
the pinn® short, overlapping; the pinnules also crowded and over- 
lapping, ovate, acute, auricled, serrate, the basal one only having a 
very short stalk, the rest being decurrent. 
10. imbricatum (M.). This graceful and curious variety is per- 
` fectly distinct from all others. The fronds are about two feet high, 
linear-lanceolate in outline, attenuate at the apex. In their narrow 
form, as well as in habit, they resemble the Polystichum lobatum of 
authors, though they have all the important characters of P. 
angulare. The pinne are short, linear-oblong, bluntish at their 
apices, spreading. The pinnules are crowded and imbricated, 
roundish-oblong, auricled at the anterior base, scarcely narrowed 

