Third leaves from twenty to thirty-five pairs, placed nearly oppofite,
loweft pair largeft, diminifliing upwards till they are loft in the termination
of the fecond leaves.
Lobes ten or twelve pairs, oppofite, a few of the firft pairs divided down
to the nerve, confluent at the point, where they are loft in the blunt crenated
termination of the third leaf ; they are o f an oblong figure, blunt
at the extremity, where they are deeply crenated with three or four dents.
The number o f thefe lobes, on a large and well-grown leaf, I have found
to exceed five and thirty thoufand ; the whole of a fine green ; the fubftance
light, tender and very delicate, and in point of beauty and elegance
much fuperior to any other o f the Britiih ferns.
Seed vefl'els in round dots, one on each lobe near the divifion at its bafe,
at firft white, afterwards green, and at laft brown.
My figure is reduced by a fcalc of twenty-four fuppofed inches, on fix
inches o f the ftandard foot. The branch, with feed veffels, is taken from
a fmall, or middle-fized fpecimen, and, drawn of its natural bignefs.
Female Fern grows in the moift part of rocky woods, and about brooks
and rivulets in the Weft-riding of Yorkihire. In rocky moift places befide
Lee Beck near Halifax plentifully.
POLIPODIUM