d& DUBLIN NATTJBAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



Aspleniiim viride {Hudson «/?.)• 



*' Kerry: Tore Mountain, Killamey," 1856, q. v. 

 The following have been also recorded, but specimens gathered in 

 Ireland have not come under my notice, with one exception : — 



Cryptogramma crispa {Linn, sp,). Recorded from Down, Antrim, 

 and Louth. 



Gymnocarpium Bryopteria {Linn, sp.). Recorded from Antrim, Mr. 

 D. Moore. 



Lophodium rigidum {Hoff). Recorded from Louth by the Rev. Mr. 

 Darby {q. v.) : query, introduced plants? 



The following species, natives of Great Britain, have not yet been 

 recorded in Ireland, and, with the exception of the species queried (?), 

 are not likely ever to be : — 



Gymnocarpium Rohertianum, Woodsia Ilvensis, Woodsia Alpina, 

 Cystopteris Bickieana, Cystopteris myrrJiidifolium {?), Lophodium calli- 

 pteris (admitted into Dr. Mackay's list, as he himself has informed me, 

 by an error), Bryopteris ahhreviata {?) { I believe I met this at Omagh, 

 but cannot yet speak positively), Pseudathyrium Alpestre, Pseudathy- 

 rium flexile, Amesium Germanicum {?), Am, septentrionale ; and Lopho- 

 dium uliginosum (pointed out to me living in the woods near Chissel- 

 hurst, Kent, by G. B. WoUaston, Esq.). 



I have carefully abstained from admitting into this list any form of 

 whose specific existence I am not convinced, such as Asplenium ancepa 

 {Lowe), first recorded from Killai-ney (where I have myself found it), 

 by "W. Andrews, Esq., and by him shown to be only a state of A. tri- 

 chomanea; Lophodium nanum, extremely common on our mountains, but 

 apparently only a state of Lophodium multiflorum, &c. 



The nature of the soil or rock on which the plants grow is but of 

 little moment ; careful notes of the distribution and growth of the ferns 

 in distinct geological districts would lead to the conclusion that the only 

 influence thus exercised relates more to the amount of shelter, moisture, 

 and depth of soil mechanically dependent on geological formation than 

 to the chemical constituents of the rocks. Numerically speaking, the 

 species of ferns found on the bare granite ranges of the county of Dublin 

 are equal to those of the more favoured and sheltered limestone districts 

 of the Burren, and this becomes more stiiking when we except those 

 plants of Lusitanian origin which occur in the latttT county. Yet in 

 the Fern Flora of the several districts there are features sufficiently 

 marked to be of importance in the investigation of the sources whence 

 the plants came, certain species of ferns in the several districts being 

 more abundant, and growing in greater luxuriance, than the remaining 

 species in that district, or than they themselves are found in other dis- 

 tricts. 



Thus, excluding such generally diffused species as Pteris aquilina and 

 Asplenium marinum, the characteristic ferns are as follows, in the several 

 districts : — 



