ZOOLOGY A.ND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 187 



ing lobes, sometimes surroundino; little ridged seeds, and borne at the 

 end of short, eqnal pedicels. This inflorescence is like that of Galym- 

 matotheca. The second has seeds of several kinds, terminal on long, 

 unequal, branched ijedicels, which are themselves the final branches of 

 certain modified branches of Sphenopteris ; this type resembles the 

 inflorescence of Lapsana communis. The author has also examined the 

 seeds of Odontopteris Reichiana, Linopteris Br., and Neuropteris cordata 

 Br. The inflorescences of the latter were probably large, compound 

 spikes, loaded with distichous seeds. 



CRYPTOGAMS. 



Pteridophyta. 

 (By A. Gepp, M.A., F.L.S.) 



British Ferns. — D. S. Fish * gives an account of the stations where 

 Adlaiitum capiUns-veneris is found in Ireland. It occurs profusely in 

 fissures of limestone beds in Co. Clare, w^here it obtains the necessary 

 mositure, heat and shade, and shelter from the winds ; also on dry 

 limestone rocks near Roundstone, Connemara. J. Britten and A. M. 

 Geldart f cite some records of the occurrence of Cy stopfer is fragilis at 

 Bungay and Yoxford, in Suffolk. W. Young $ gathered in Corrie 

 Ceann-mor, South Aberdeen, a strong plant of Gystopteris fragilis, 

 pronounced to be the var. sempervirens, which has been regarded as a 

 doubtful native of Britain. Under cultivation the plant maintained 

 its evergreen character throughout the winter, not dying with the first 

 frosts. It is certainly a native of Madeira, but its British stations at 

 Tunbridge Wells and in Devonshire are open to suspicion of an im- 

 portation of the plants. 



AUosurus crispus. — J. Adams § records the occurrence of Allosurus 

 crispus at two stations in Co. Wicklow ; previously it was not known to 

 occur in Ireland south of a line drawn from Dundalk to Sligo. P. Q. 

 Keegan,|j in treating of the chemistry of some common plants, gives an 

 account of the chief constituents and extractives of AUosurus crispus, 

 and compares them with those of Fteris aquilina. The remarkable 

 feature of the plant is the large quantity of soluble salts, conjointly 

 with the considerable amount of silica. 



Pteridophytes of Ascension.^ — R, N. Rudraose Brown gives a list 

 of seven ferns and a Lijcopodium collected by him on Elliott's Pass, at 

 an altitude of 2000 ft. on Green Mountain, in the island of Ascension. 

 Two of the species are new records for the island. 



Distribution of Ferns in South Africa.** — T. R. Sim has issued a 

 paper supplementing his " Ferns of South Africa," 1S92. He records 

 seven additional Pteridophytes for Cape Colony, Natal, and Zululand, 



* Trans. Proc. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh, xxxiii. (1906) pp. 196-8. 

 t Journ. of Bot., xlv. (1907) pp. 33, 71. 



X Trans. Proc. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh, xxiii. (1906) pp. 192-4. 

 § Irish Naturalist, xv. (1906) p. 233. || Naturalist, 1907, p. 25. 



\ Trans. Proc. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh, xxiii. (190G) pp. 202-3. 

 ** Trans. S. African Phil. Soc, xvi. (1906) pp. 267-300 (2 pis.). 



