244 CORRESPONDENCE, &C. 



stated on the authority of Sherard, to have been found in 

 Jersey. The second figure is in Tourneforfs * Institutiones 

 Rei Herbariae,' tab. 315, fig. 6. It is also noticed in Dille- 

 nius' edition of Ray's ' Synopsis,' and by Smith, in the ' En- 

 glish Flora,' where it constitutes the variety /3 of Asplenium 

 Tridiomanes. The variety y of Smith, to which that author 

 quotes Sir Robert Sibbald's description (" Tri. aliud, foliis 

 tnucronatis prqfwfide incisis,'''^ ^Scotia Illustrata' sec. 2. p. 52) 

 appears to have little resemblance to the variety, or even 

 species in question, if I may venture to judge from the figure 

 (Sibb., tab. iii. fig. 4) to which Smith refers ; but as to the 

 correctness of the reference, I am unable to speak, for Sib- 

 bald himself has, in no way that I can discover, connected 

 the text and figure. 



Mr. Gibson's plant was gathered at Kant Clough, four 

 miles from Burnley, in Lancashire : it was originally disco^ 

 vered there in 1832, and some plants taken up at that date 

 and planted in a garden at Halifax, have been found to retain 

 their remarkable character in cultivation. 



CORRESPONDENCE, INTELLIGENCE, &c. 



Missionary Settlement, 

 Achill Island, April 8, 1840. 



Sir, 



I am indebted to the kindness of some anonymous corre- 

 spondent, for the following extract from an article entitled * Notes on 

 Irish Natural History,' which appeared in the 36th number' of your 

 Magazine; and as it contains what seems to me very uncandid misre- 

 presentations of the character of the establishment which is entrusted 

 to my superintendence, I trust your sense of justice will induce you 

 to publish this letter, supplying the facts, which the writer of the 

 article to which I have alluded has thought fit to suppress. 



The objectionable passage to which my attention has been directed, 

 is as follows ; — 



'' The natives of Achill are charged with being thieves and mur- 

 derers ; and if I were to place full reliance on all I heard at the Set- 

 tlement, they would appear to be so. Mr. Long, however, with every 

 thing constantly exposed (walls and hedges being here unknown), and 

 living amongst a population from whom he has no power to defend 

 himself, has never lost even a potato. I allude not to this politically, 

 but bearing in mind solely the natural history of the island, and its 

 capability of improvement, I pronounce, without hesitation, that if 



