NOTES ON IRISH NATURAL HISTORY. 19 



forms of craggy limestone that I have ever seen, and crowded 

 with such ferns as delight in rocks. Ceterach officinarum 

 and Asplenium Rida-muraria and Trichomanes were in the 

 greatest possible luxuriance. And here I should remark that 

 I have never seen Ceterach so fine as in Ireland. Many of 

 the larger ferns were also in great profusion : — Lastrcea Filix- 

 mas, Las, dilatata, Athyrium Filix-fcemina, and all the forms 

 of Polystichum aculeatum, and Osmunda regalis, as usual. — 

 Most of these ferns, but more particularly Ceterach, occurred 

 on all the walls till I reached Galway. 



The walls and houses in Galway are half covered with 

 Parietaria officinalis ; and being generally very old, and the 

 Parietaria unusually fine, we might venture to call the old 

 age of Galway " a green and vigorous old age. " Ceterach is 

 abundant all round and even in the town. Mine host having 

 detected me in the act of stowing away a few fi:onds I had 

 just been gathering, informed me of a botanist resident in the 

 town, and assured me he would be glad to see me ; so in a 

 few minutes I found myself in the presence of one of the 

 most ardent and right-spirited naturalists with w^hom it has 

 ever been my good luck to foregather. He gave me authen- 

 tic specimens of Erica Mackaiana, and also Adiantum Ca- 

 pillus- Veneris from the foot of Urrisbeg. 



Having now" finished Cunnemara, I will just run over an 

 enumeration of its ferns. Adiantum Capillus- Veneris, rai'e ; 

 Lomaria spicant, abundant ; Pteris aquilina, very sparingly 

 scattered; Polypodium vulgare, very local ; Cystopteris fra- 

 gilis, local; Polystichum aculeatum, abundant in some places 

 and in all varieties ; of Lastrcea Oreopteris I saw one plant 

 only ; Las. Filix-mas, rare ; Las. dilatata, everywhere ; var. 

 dumetorum, abundant ; Athyrium Filix-fcemina, abundant ; 

 Asplenium Adiantufn-nigrum, common on rocks ; Asp. Ruta 

 muraria, on ruins; Asp. marinum, on cliffs by the sea; Asp. 

 Trichomanes, on rocks and buildings, not uncommon ; Cete- 

 rach officinarum, abundant on walls ; Scolopendrium vulgare 

 not common ; Hymeiiophyllum Tunbridgense and Wilsoni, 

 on wet rocks, and intermixed ; Osmunda regalis, most abun- 

 dant, sometimes covering small islands in the lakes. In pass- 

 ing through the country as I did, and omitting altogether the 

 Mam Turk range and the Twelve Pins, I must of course have 

 missed many of the finest localities ; yet is this fist a goodly 

 one. 



I must now make a comment or two on those ferns which 

 I either did not see at all, or saw but seldom. Polypodium 

 Dryopteris and Phegopteris ; these species, in Scotland and 

 Wales, abound in all districts similar to those which I hunted 



