THE LADY FERN. | 49 
narrow terminal forks are the peculiarities of this variety, which 
was found at Nettlecombe, in Somersetshire, by Mr. Elworthy. 
58. polydactylon (M.). Thisis a monstrous form of the incisum type, 
very elegant and ornamental in character. Its peculiarity consists in 
the apices of the pinn® being furcately divided into about five or 
six normal-looking, i. e., not crisped, points ; or, in other words, the 
multifid apices of the pinnœ are plane, and bi-tri-fureate. The 
apex of the frond is also several times forked. The fronds are 
vigorous, a foot and a half or more in height, lanceolate, symmetrical, 
with the pinne distant below. The pinne are oblong, not much nar- 
rowed below the forked apex, which is normal except in this, that it is 
twice or rarely three times divided in a dichotomous manner, so as to 
form a three to five fingered termination to each pinna. The pinnules 
are oblong-lanceolate, and pinnatifid, in the way usual amongst the 
larger normal forms of the species. It was found near Nettlecombe, 
in Somersetshire, by Mr. ©. Elworthy, who has found the fronds of 
this variety to perish six weeks earlier than those of the somewhat 
similar variety multifidum. Similar forms have been found in— 
Devonshire: Barnstaple, C. Jackson. Kent: Tunbridge Wells, 
Mrs. Delves. Yorkshire: Whitby, W. Willison. Westmoreland : 
Windermere, F. Clowes. [Plate LXIV B.] 
54. multifurcatum (M.). A fine vigorous multifid variety of the 
incisum or laxum group. The plant may be described as resembling 
incisum, except in this, that the ends of the pinn are multifid in a 
peculiar way, and the apex of the frond is also multifid, forming a 
short terminal spreading tuft which merges into those of the pinne. 
The pinne are somewhat narrowed towards their multifid apex, 
which is spread out into a flat series of divergent almost recurving 
segments, growing out into longish points, much in the same way 
as occurs in the tufts formed by Blechnum Spicant, v. multifurcatum 
(Plate XCVII), only on a smaller scale. This, which appears to be 
a very distinct and handsome form, has been sent to us from Voil 
Famma, a mountain in the neighbourhood of Ruthin, Denbigh- 
shire, by Mr. T. Pritchard. 
55. multifidum (M.). This, though a monstrous form, is one of 
the most beautifully symmetrical and graceful permanent varieties 
of British Ferns which have yet been found, exactly analogous in 
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