THE CRESTED BUCKLER FERN. 211 
Caudex stoutish, decumbent or slowly creeping, i. e., extending in 
a horizontal direction, the fronds of each season being in advance of 
those of the preceding year; branched, scarcely tufted, somewhat 
scaly, formed of the enlarged living bases of the decayed fronds 
surrounding a woody axis. Scales similar to those of the stipes. 
Fibres numerous, coarse, dark brown, branched. 
Vernation circinate, the pinnee lying flat against the sides of the 
incurved. rachis. 
Stipes terminal and adherent to the caudex, about one-third of 
the entire length of the frond, stout, shining, dark brown at the 
base, the brown blending with green upwards, sparsely scaly, with 
broad ovate membranaceous pale-brown scales, which are for the 
most part appressed, and are most numerous near the base. Rachis 
stout, channelled in front, almost free from scales, pale green... 
Fronds from one to three feet high, herbaceous, dull green, erect, 
narrrow linear-oblong, tapering at the apex, scarcely at all narrowed 
at the base, subbipinnate. Pinne numerous, the lower ones distant, 
subopposite, short triangular, two inches long, an inch and a half 
broad at the base; the upper more contiguous, alternate, elongate 
triangular, those near the middle of the frond measuring about two 
and a half inches long, and nearly an inch and a quarter broad at 
the base; all shortly stalked, the stalk twisted so that their upper 
surface is directed towards the apex of the frond. Pinnules oblong, 
bluntish, more or less adnate, and connected by the wing of the 
rachis, the basal ones only, and these only on highly developed 
fronds, having a narrow attachment, pinnatifidly lobed, the lobes 
serrate, with spinulose teeth; the rest of the pinnules are inciso- 
crenate at the margin, serrate at the apex, the crenatures serrated, 
and all the serratures tipped by a spinulose point. The posterior 
basal pinnules are scarcely larger than the anterior ones of the same 
pinne; while those of the late summer and autumnal fronds are 
broader and larger. 
Venation of the pinnules consisting of a flexuous costa or midvein, 
which throws off a vein into each lobe; these veins bear several 
venules, which are either simple or forked, and are directed one 
towards each tooth, terminating within the margin in a somewhat 
thickened point. Usually only the anterior basal venule of each 
DEA 

