7 Vie Scottish Naturalist. 277 



fern. Irish : craobh macfiadh (O'Reilly), — craob/i, a tree, a plant, 

 and muc fiadh, wild pig or boar. 



Scolopendrium vulgare— Hart's tongue fern. Gaelic : creamh 

 macfiadh, or in Irish, creamh nam muc fiadh. "Wild boar's wort, 

 a name also given to Asparagus. 



Pteris aquilina — Common brake. Gaelic : an raineach mhbr, 

 the large fern. Raith (see Polypodium). The brake is used for 

 various purposes by the Gaels, such as for thatching cottages \ 

 and beds were also made of it. It is esteemed a eood remedv 

 for rickets in children, and for curing worms. 



Adiantum capillus-Veneris — Maiden-hair fern. Gaelic : fail- 

 tean fibnn (Armstrong), from fia/t, hair, sacidfibun, fair, resplendent. 

 This fern is only known in the Highlands by cultivation. This 

 name is frequently given to Trichpmanes (dubh chasach) impro- 

 perly. 



Ophioglossum — From Greek : ocfn<?, a serpent, and yXwcrcrr], a 

 tongue. The little fertile stalk springing straight out of the 

 grass may not inaptly be compared to a snake's tongue. 



0. vulgatum — Adder's tongue. Lus nanathraith (M'Kenzie), 

 the serpent's weed. Teanga d nathrach, the adder's tongue. 

 Welsh : tafad y neidr, adder's tongue. In the Western High- 

 lands, beasan or feasan (Stewart). 



Osmunda — Osmunder, in Northern mythology, was one of the 

 sons of Thor (Gaelic : Tordan, the thunderer, the Jove of the 

 Celts ; os in Celtic, over, above, upon, and munata, a champion, 

 in Irish), — said to have received the name on account of its 

 potential qualities in medicine. 



0. regalis — Royal fern. Gaelic : raineach rioghail, kingly 

 fern ; righ raineach, royal fern. In Ireland it is called bog- 

 'onion. 



Botrychium lunaria — Moonwort. Gaelic : luan lus, moon- 

 wort. Welsh: y lleuadlys, — lleuad, moon. "Luan, the moon, 

 seems a contraction of luath-an, the swift planet" — Arm- 

 strong. But rather from Sanscrit : luach, light. Latin : /una. 

 French : lime. Deur lus and dealt lus (Stewart), — deur, a tear, 

 a drop of any fluid, and dealt, dew. This plant was held in 

 superstitious reverence among Celtic and other nations. Horses 

 were said to lose their shoes where it grew. " On Sliabh Riab- 

 hach Mountain no horse can keep its shoes ; and to this day it 

 is said that on Lord Dunsany's Irish property there is a field 

 where it is supposed all live stock lose their nails if pastured 

 there." " A Limerick story refers to a man in Clonmel jail who 



