273 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO A LIST OF THE CRYPTOGAMOUS FLORA 

 OF BANFFSHIRE. 



FERNS. 

 1 Common Polypody. {Pohjpodium vulgare.) Abundant in all parts of the 

 county. On the rocks exposed to the sea it attains the height of only one 

 or two inches, scarcely showing its head above the moss. 



2. Mountain Polypody. (P. phegopteris.) In the parish of Alvah, by 

 the Rev. A.Todd. On the 11th August I gathered it near a romantic 

 waterfall, called the Dhu Craig, in the parish of Keith ; one plant measured 

 twenty-one inches. I have also found it growing at a great height, on a hill 

 in Strathconon, Ross. 



3. Tender three-branched Polypody. (P. dryopteris.) Parish of Alvah, 

 by Rev. A. Todd. 



4. Alpine Polypody. (P. alpestre.) This fern I am inclined to think 

 I gathered at Tarlair, near Macduff. It grew at the bottom of some 

 high rocks, in a damp shaded situation. At first I took it for Athyriwm-filix- 

 fcemina, but on closer examination I have set it down as Alpine Polypody. 



5. Heath, or Mountain Fern. {Lastrea Oreopteris.) This fern is most 

 abundant in most parts of the county. In moist shaded situations it grows 

 most luxuriantly, being upwards of three feet in many parts. I observed it 

 in great quantities in many parts of Ross. 



6. Male Fern. {L. filix-mas.) Common everywhere. In Gillie Burn, near' 

 Banff, it attains great perfection, and remains throughout the winter. 

 In the above named place I met with a frond, in which one of the pinna; 

 was bifid. 



7. Narrow prickly-toothed Fern. {L. spinulosa.) This grows in the hills 

 of Boyndie, near Banff, and in other places. Being out one day collect- 

 ing, I gathered more specimens than I could well examine ; I laid them 

 aside till a more convenient time. When I put the sori under the glass, I 

 thought I saw the spores in motion. I looked steadily, and the spores were 

 flying in all directions, and in great quantities, so that the paper below the 

 fern was soon quiet dark. In my quiet admiration, methought I heard a 

 crackling noise ; auribus erectis I listened, and distinctly heard it ; this was 

 a sound that fell on the ear " like the exquisite music of a dream," telling 

 ihat there was a force, a vital force at work in that plant, and speaking a 

 tale of wisdom. 



8. Broad prickly-toothed Fern. {L. dilatata.) Quite common, and in 

 shaded places growing to a large size. 



9. Prickly shield Fern. {Polystichum lobatum.) I have found this in one 

 place only, — in the parish of Botriphnie, on the side of the old road leading 

 from Keith to Dufftown, near the small loch from which the Isla flows ; it 

 measured nearly two feet in length. 



