COMMON BRAKES. 57 
mentary only. The fronds are almost invariably 
fertile, but all parts of the frond are not equally so: 
in seedling plants, which occasionally grow in caves, 
fissures in rocks or on stone walls, they are smaller, 
__ tender, delicate and barren; the margins of the lobes 
of the pintiules are then flattened and notched. That 
part of the stalk below the ground is of a dark brown 
colour, like the caudex, which it closely resembles in 
appearance; it is also considerably more 
Sobek than that above ground. When cut through 
in an oblique direction, the section exhibits a regular 
=, by many thought to represent an oak, by others 
8 to a spread eagle, and by the Scotch, 
ding to Dr. Johnson, to the impression of the 
le'll’s foot”; of which comparisons that to.an oak 
is perhaps the least fanciful: I am incompetent to 
any opinion as to the last-mentioned, not 
seen the impression of the foot in question. 
ad, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, this forts 
prarywbere, except on the chalk. 
no instructions as to cultivating the 
pinna is usually very small, and, as it were, rudi- 
; 
-green-house is often very 
extremely puzzling to a beginner, 
and tender green colour differing 
