338 FILICES. [Aspidium. 



tainous places, or in clefts of rocks. . The two lowest branches, or leaf- 

 lets, being more or less bent downward, sometimes as it were pendulous, 

 are peculiarly characteristic. 



3. P. Dryopteris, Linn. Tender three-branched Polypody. 

 Fronds ternate, bipinnate ; divisions spreading and deflexed, 

 the segments obtuse, subcrenated ; sori marginal ; root-stock 

 filiform. Br. Fl. ed. 3. p. 448. E. Fl. v. iv. p. 282. E. Bot. 

 t. 616. 



Dry stony places in mountainous countries. On the Mountains of 

 Mourne ; Turk Mountain; Killarney ; Mam-turk, Cunnamara, &c. 

 Frond from 4—6 inches to a foot high, bright green, smooth, delicate 

 and flaccid. Stalk slender, brittle, two or three times as tall as the 

 leafy part, pale, very smooth, except a few scales at the bottom. 



3. Aspidium. Sw. Shield-fern. 



Sori roundish, scattered. Involucre orbicular, fixed by the 

 centre, or orbiculari-reniform and fixed at the sinus. — Name, 

 aciris, a(T7riSos, a shield, which its involucres resemble, espe- 

 cially in the species of the first division. 



* Involucre orbicular, fixed by the centre, hence peltate. 

 (Aspidium, Br.) 



1. A. Lonchitis, Sw. Bough alpine Shield-fern. Fronds 

 linear-lanceolate, pinnate; pinnae lanceolato-falcate, acute, 

 ciliato-serrate, the upper base acutely auricled, the lower one 

 cuneate ; superior pinnae bearing the fructifications; stipes 

 chaffy. Br. FL ed. 3. p. 448. E. Fl. v. iv. p. 284.— Polypod. 

 Lonch., Linn.—E. Bot. t.797. 



Shady clefts of limestone rocks on Ben Bulben and other mountains 

 in the County of Sligo in 1833, where it had previously been observed 

 by Mr. E. Murphy. Fronds a span or more high, tufted, linear-lan- 

 ceolate, firm, rigid and harsh, deep green. Stalk short, clothed below 

 the leafy part with large, broad, taper-pointed scales ; with smaller 

 ones above. 



2. A. lobatum, Sw. Close-leaved prickly Shield-fern. Fronds 

 oblong-lanceolate, bipinnate; pinnules rigid, convex, ovate, 

 sublunate, acuminate, arMate, oblique and cuneated at the 

 base and decurrent, the margins faintly serrated, spinulose, 

 with a distinct tooth at the base on the upper side, the one next 

 the main rachis longer than the rest ; stipes and rachis more or 

 less chaffy; fructifications confined to the upper half of the 

 fronds. Br. Fl. ed. 3. p. 449. E. Fl. v. iv. p. 290. E. Bot. 

 t. 1563. 



Moist woods, shady banks, and rocky places, generally in rather 

 elevated situations ; most plentiful in the northern counties. At the 

 upper end of Colin Glen, where it was first pointed out to me by Mr. 



