208 WILD FLOWEBS OF 



aspect occur. The variety called by Sir J. E. SMITH, 

 C. angustata, is exceedingly elegant, and as an ex- 

 treme form seems at first sight very distinct from the 

 more rigid mountain plant named C. dentata. This 

 we once gathered in a wild romantic spot on the 

 banks of the river Terne, near Downton Castle, Here- 

 fordshire. 



The feather-like Beech-fern (Polyp odium pJiegopte- 

 ris), the tender three-branched Polypody (P. dryopte- 

 ris), as well as the more rigid and taller P. calcareum,* 

 generally occur on stony mountains, or by the margins 

 of alpine streams just plunged from a wooded preci- 

 pice into some black shadowy abyss, hemmed in by 

 crags and ancient trees, immersed in rimy fog ; silent, 

 save to the eternal patter of the falling water ; horrid 

 with a confused debacle of ruins from the broken 

 cliffs above; and curtained with a triple fold of 

 Stygian shade, where darkness luxuriates even at 

 noon day. In the secluded tracts of North Wales, 

 many scenes may be found like the one here imaged, 

 as at the Raven Waterfall in the vale of Eestiniog, 

 and deep within the bed of the river Cynfael in the 

 same glen, where a naked rock towers, called Pulpit 

 Hugh Llwyd, said to have been once the dreaded 

 scene of magical rites and incantations. The beauti- 

 ful ferns last mentioned may be found at Cil Hepste 

 "Waterfall and Pont Henrhyd in the Vale of Neath, 

 and near Bala Lake, as well as about many of the 

 cataracts both in North and South Wales. A scene 

 somewhat similar to the one above depicted is thus 



* The somewhat rare P. calcareum grows abundantly on the stony 

 declivity of Cleeve-Cloud Hill, one of the Cotteswolds, near Cheltenham. 

 It is well characterized by the stouter and taller rachis, with frond larger, 

 and much stiffer pinnae than in P. dryopteris. 



