Dumbartonshire ; and we have otlicr lobate forms from Donryn,
Cornwall ; Glon Looby, Perthshire ; Ardrishiag, Argylesliiro ; and
from Jersey and Guernsey. [Plate X X X III 0 .]
11. paleaeco-crispa (M.). A handsome subvariety of tho
typo. The fronds of this form arc broad or ovate, densely-loafy,
the pinnæ and pinnules, the latter especially, being remarkably close
set. Tho chief pocuharity, however, resides in the undulation of
the pinnules, those hoing twisted and curled so as to give quite a
crispy appoaranoe to tho surface of the frond ; they aro rather
elongate-oblong iu outline, the basal ones lobate, and the tips of all of
thorn sharply serrated. Though a plant of full size, even the lowest
pinnules arc not quite distinct, a narrow wing to tho raohis connecting
the rest with each other ; iu the case of this lowest pinnule, the sinus
is ooutiuiied so as to narrow the attachment, hut the upper pinnules
are attached nearly or quite hy thoir whole width. I t was found
by Mr. R. Hogg, at Bogan Green, Coldingham, Berwickshire.
12. Pinderi (M.). This is a remarkable and elegant form, peculiar
from its long narrow fronds, which aro very much attenuated both
towards tho base and apox, thus boooming elongate-lanoe-shapcd in
outline. Tho fronds are nearly or quite a yard in height, and less
than six inohos wide in the broadest part, tapering upwards into a
long slender point, and narrowed below in a similar way. The
stipes is short. This belongs to the golden-sealed type, the pinnules
scales and sori being similar to thoso of that variety, the chief
difference consisting in the remarkable outline of tho frond. The
lowermost scales aro, however, very long and subulate. I t was
found near Liter Water in tho Lake district, in 1855, by tbe Eev.
G. Pinder.
13. abbreviata (Bab.). Tliis dwarf-growing form, seldom exceeding
a foot in height, is one of the permanently smaller forms of the
species, and is probably specifically distinct ; though pumila (14)
has many characters in common with it, and the two are perhaps
forms of one subalpine species. Tho present is however a larger
plant than pumila, with considerably larger, broader, and therefore
coarser-looking pinnules, which although to some extent recurved,
are j'et by no means so fully or so constantly so, as in pumila. The
scales of the stipes aro somewhat fimhriatcd or jagged at tho margin.
The fronds, at least while young, are glandular and fragrant ; they
are pinnate ; the pinnæ scarcely again pinnate, tho lowest pinnules
only hoing sometimes separated, the remainder always docurrent ; the
points of tho pinnules arc turned upwards so that tho upper surface
of the pinnæ is concave. The pinnules are large for tho size of tho
plant, broad, rounded at the apox, the margin unequally crenate, or
crenate-lobate, the lohcs having blunt obscure teeth. I t is allied to
the variety pumila, hut differs in the larger size of its pinnules,
which gives it a coarser aspect, and it is not so much recurved.
The sori are for the most part uniserial on each side the midrib of
the pinnæ ; and have indusia which at least whilo fresh, aro
margined with glands, as in pumila. This raro form has been found
in the habitats below named—Snowdon : Cwin Glas, Rev. J . M.
Chanter; also in tho same district, W. Pamplin. Durham: Teesdale,
J . Backhouse. Yorkshire : Inglohorough, Rev. G. Finder. Lancashire
: Conistone, Sliss Beever. Westmoreland, G. B. Wollaston.
Cumberland, Rev. G. Pinder. Gloucestershire : Wyck, Bab. Man.
Forfarshiro: Glen Isla, J . Backhouse. Kerry: Killarney, R.
Barrington.
14. pumila (M.). This is a permanently small dwarf erect plant,
remarkable among other characteristics, for the recurving of the
points of its pinnæ, and of its pinnules, which gives to its upper
surface a concave appearance. I t usually grows from nine inches
to a foot in height, and rarely, when very vigorous, roaches the
height of a foot and half ; the stipes being two to throe inches long,
and furnished m th scales which aro fimbriate on the margin.
The fronds are lanceolate, pinnate. The pinnæ aro short, bluntish,
rather defiexed, scarcely ever more thau deeply pinnatifid, the basal
pinnules only being sometimes but rarely semi-detached. The pinnules
or lobos are small oblong, obtuse, obscurely crenatod, convex,
but recurved at the points, so th a t the pinnæ are concave, the points
of the pinnæ being also recurved, so that the frond itself is concave.
The venation is comparatively simple : the costa or midvem, which
is carried up each lobe, produces veins of which the lower are once
forked, the upper simple. In fronds of ordinary growth, scarcely
any hut the anterior branch of the lowest anterior vein in each lobe
or pinnule hears a sorus, and the sori then form an almost simple
.