THE EUROPEAN BRISTLE FERN. 299 
form of the plant is best known, having been, he believes, drawn up 
by moisture, under which influence, the parenchymatous portions are 
developed at the expense of the fructification ; but as these broader 
forms are sometimes seen finely fructified under cultivation we are 
not disposed to adopt this view, and prefer rather to consider the 
form now under notice as a variety. Its chief peculiarities are that 
the fronds are narrower and more lanceolate in outline, the primary 
pinne-like divisions narrow, and as well as the secondary ones, more 
distant and distinct than in the other forms. Our figure only shows 
this on a small scale. The receptacles are also very much elongated, 
and Mr. Andrews, by whom it was discovered in Glouin Caragh, consi- 
ders this the striking character of the plant. Mr. Newman points out 
that the involucres, in this form, are quite sunk in the margin of the 
frond, whilst they are distinct and almost stalked in the original or 
Killarney plant. The caudex in the var. Andrewsü, is moreover said 
to be scarcely tomentose, but this does not seem to be a fixed 
character. The stipes is more elongated and less winged than in 
the normal form. Mr. Andrews in a paper read before the Royal 
Irish Academy, mentions that as the receptacles elongated and 
became protruded beyond the involucres, the ‘capsules’ continued 
forming in an even dense mass to their extremity. We have 
noticed the same to occur in well fruited examples of the species 
itself. 

