




THE BRITISH FERNS. 
ALLOSORUS LANUGINOSUS, Presl, Tent. Pterid. 154. 
ALLOSORUS CAPENSIS, Pappe et Rawson, Syn. Fil. Afr. Aust. 32. 
ALLOSORUS VILLOSUS, Presl, Tent. Pterid. 154. 
ALLOSORUS HOTTENTOTTUS, Presl, Tent. Pterid. 154. 
CINCINALIS AQUILINA, Gleditsch, Diss. i. 94, ` 
ASPLENIUM AQUILINUM, Bernhardt, Schrad. Journ. Bot. 1799, i. 310. 
EUPTERIS AQUILINA, Newman, Phytol. ii. 278 ; Id., 1851, App. iii..; Id., Hist. 
Brit. Ferns, 3 ed. 23. 
PXSIA AQUILINA, Moore, Gard. Chron. 1858, 878. 

Caudex as thick as one's little finger, subterraneous, creeping ex- 
tensively, black and somewhat velvety on the outside, white succulent 
and starchy within. Fibres branched, downy. 
Vernation eireinate; the rachis in an early stage is bent down 
abruptly close against the stipes. 
Stipes lateral, distant on the caudex and adherent to it, spindle- 
shaped, black and velvety at the base, 7. e., beneath the ground 
surface, yellowish green above, pubescent while young, afterwards 
smooth, roundish or semiterete, but with two sharp cutting angles, 
often about half the length of the frond. A transverse section cut at 
various angles shows the ends of the vascular bundles arranged so as 
to present different fanciful resemblances to the imperial or spread 
eagle, whence the specific name. Rachis channelled above, rounded 
behind, sometimes slightly asperulous. 
Fronds variable in size, outline and composition, deep green, of a 
harsh rigid texture. In poor soils they grow from six to eighteen 
inches in height, and in more favourable localities they reach from 
three or four feet which is an average size, to eight ten or twelve 
feet, or even more in some cases. When dwarfed their outline is 
nearly triangular, and the lower pair of branches only being well 
developed, they appear three-branched though not truly so. When 
more vigorous they become elongated or oblong, and consist of a 
series of branches successively developed, in pairs, one above the other. 
The smaller fronds are bipinnate, the larger tripinnate. Primary 
pinne or branches ovate or oblong-ovate, opposite or subopposite, 
often distant. Pinnules or secondary pinne narrow lanceolate or 
narrowing from a broad base, opposite or alternate, contiguous, 
bluntish or sometimes caudate. Pinnulets or ultimate distinct divi- 
sions sessile, smooth above, hairy beneath, blunt at the apex; oblong 

