THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY 



DECEMBER, 1839. 



Art. I.— Notes on Irish Natural History, more especially Ferns 

 By Edward Newman, Esq., F.L.S., &c. 



{Continued from page 551.) 



On the ruins of Castle O'Donnel I found a number of the 

 commoner ferns, and among them a few fronds of Scolopen- 

 drium vulgare. On the banks of Lough Derg, Osmunda 

 regalis again made its appearance in abundance. It was late 

 in the evening when I reached this celebrated lake, and 

 crossed to its wonder-working island, on which hundreds of 

 invalids, and cripples, and sinners, were patiently awaiting 

 miraculous cures for body and mind. This little island is 

 built to the water's edge, and a solitary sycamore is the only 

 tree it nourishes. I passed through Pettigoe, along the east 

 side of Loch Erne, and between the upper and lower lough 

 to Inniskillin and Manorhamilton. In approaching Sligo the 

 country assumed a different appearance to any I had before 

 seen ; the hills had rounded summits and rocky precipitous 

 sides. The number and variety of ferns here greatly increased; 

 Cystopteris fragilis was most abundant and polymorphous, 

 as it ever is when once established in a congenial habitat. — 

 Scolopendrium vulgare hung its bright green streamers from 

 the rocks, and filled the hedge-rows, for near Sligo there are 

 hedge-rows. Asplenium Adiantum-nigrum, Rut a-mur aria, 

 and Trichomanes were everywhere abundant, more particu- 

 larly on the stone walls. 



At Ballisodare is a very fine rapid of the Owenbeg. This 

 stream is of respectable width, and roars, foams, and dashes 

 along over a slaty-looking bottom in fine style : the rapid is, 



Vol. III.— No. 36, n. s. 3 r 



