CRYPTOGAMIA-FILICE8. Asplenium. ^91 



greatly in size and aj)peaiance, but always distinct from the 

 fragilis." The cover, as that gentleman remarks, " is in both 

 species, connected with they>ci«(/ by its base only, at the lower 

 side of the mass of capsules, that is, on the side next the base 

 of the segment of the leaflet;" which agrees with my obser- 

 vations. This Fern is well compared by Hobart, in Morison, 

 to the Cicutaria of old authors, our CliccropJujllnni sylvestre, see 

 V. 2. 48, so common on banks in the spring. It is unquestion- 

 ably distinct from every other British Fern, though tlie pro])er 

 name and synonyms were not discovered till after its appearance 

 in Engl, /io/., where 1 fell into the same error with some foreign 

 botanists. Linnaeus once thought it a Swedish plant, but erro- 

 neously, nor had he an original or authentic specimen. 



The remarks of Dr. Richardson, inserted between brackets, by 

 Dillenius, in the third edition of Ray's Synopsis, 126. n. 8, cer- 

 tainly do not answer to the present species j as my late friend 

 the Ilev. Hugh DavieSj an excellent observer, first pointed out 

 to me. 



John Bauhin's synonym, which Ray quoted with doubt, api)cars, 

 by the really excellent figure, to be unquestionably our plant. 

 It must be either this or ^spid'ium alpinum, JVilld. n. 139. 

 which is likewise a Cystea, figured in Jac. Ic. Rar. t. G42, and 

 in Segu. Feron, Suppl. t. 1./. 3. But neither the plant itself, 

 nor either of these representations, suits the wooden cut of 

 Bauhin, which agrees far better with C regia, particularly in the 

 shape of the leaflets. Haller, very unsuitably I think, refers it 

 to Pleris crispa ; which circumstance, and the singular jumble 

 of synonyms under his ?2. 1707, Cystea fragilis, induces a sus- 

 picion that he had not accurately observed these alpine ferns, 

 and especially that he had never seen Vaillant's Filicula regia 

 at all. 



40G. ASPLENIUM. Spleenwoit. 



Linn. Gen. 560. Juss. 15. Fl. Br. 1 1 26. Sm. in Act. Tanrin. v. 5. 



409. Tracts 23^. Swartz. Syn. Fil. 74. Lam. t. S67. f. 1,3. 



Spreng. Crypt. f. 23. 

 Trichomanes. Tourn. ^ 3 1 5. 

 Ruta muraria. Tourn. /.317. 

 Hemionitis, Tourn. t. 322. f. B. 



Nat. Ord. see n. 463. 



Masses of capsules linear or oblonp^, straight, parallel, 

 scattered obliquely over the back of the J'rond, more or 

 less numerously, between the midrib of each leaflet, or 

 -lobe, and the next rib or vein. 



Cover membranous, continuous, straioht, flat, linear, or 

 oblong, broadest at the base, proceeding from a vein, 



i; 2 



