1882-83.] Edinburgh Naturalists Field Chtb. 79 



so made no special effort to find any of them. It was like a new 

 revelation — it was in reality an introduction to a new (botanical) 

 world of wonders — when last year there were placed in my hands 

 two large voh;mes for perusal, being Lowe's ' Our Native Ferns,' 

 in which he describes 50 species and nearly 1300 varieties, most 

 of them being figured, and many beautifully printed in their natu- 

 ral colours. The first attempt at perusal of such a work causes a 

 feeling of bewilderment, but in a short time the eye and mind get 

 somewhat familiarised with the many very varied and very beau- 

 tiful forms assumed by our old familiar friends, when growing 

 under suitable circumstances as to soil, climate, &c. Only a small 

 proportion (less than 10 per cent) of the varieties are mentioned 

 as having been found in Scotland, most of the finer ones being 

 apparently confined to the warmer regions in the south and west of 

 our island. Lowe remarks that although a great deal had been 

 done during a few j^ears previous to tlie date of publication of 

 liis work (1865), in the way of searching for and finding Fern 

 varieties, a wide field was still open in that direction. What has 

 been done since 1865 I have no means of knowing, though doubt- 

 less a good deal has been accomplished. A diligent search in our 

 northern and less favoured part of the island will no doubt be the 

 means of finding already known varieties in many new localities, 

 or even of discovering new varieties. But then, though every 

 thing possible were known and recorded in books (and of course 

 it is not), it remains for each of us to make the knowledge our own 

 as far as we can by practical field work. So having made myself 

 somewhat familiar with the appearance of the several varieties, 

 and being in a fairly good locality, I went out to try what I could 

 find. You have now the results of my labours within narrow 

 limits both of time and place ; and the collection is interesting, 

 not so much on account of what it is, as showing what may be 

 done. 



And now a little as to the locality. An open pastoral glen, 

 about 400 feet above sea-level, and about four miles inland from 

 the Firth of Clyde at Port-Glasgow, surrounded by low hills, ex- 

 cept on the east, towards which the streams in this part of the 

 county flow. Through the glen runs a small stream, the Green- 

 water, joined by another small stream, the Black water. On the 

 rocky peninsula between them stand the ruins of Duchal Castle, 

 For some distance above and below the ruins the scenery on 

 the streams is very fine and romantic, where they flow through 

 deep rocky gorges, whose banks are shaded with bushes and trees. 

 It was chiefly in these gorges that the Ferns in this collection 

 were gathered. In these gorges, and all around, at ditch-sides, 

 hedge-sides, road-sides, the commoner sorts of Ferns grow in great 

 profusion, and very luxuriantly. Specially may be noted the Oak 



