252 CRYPTOGRAMMA. — OSMUNDA. 



holostea ; at the base of the rocky face are tufts of the Male-Fern 

 and Aspidium dilatatum; and in chinks of the face itself tufts of the 

 Blue-Bell, the stately Foxglove, the showy Viper' s-Bugloss, and a 

 hanging Bush of the Whin, one mass of gold in its season, — I follow 

 the burn no further, for here it loses the dean, and pursues its 

 future course through cultivated fields that vary their character 

 yearly at man's will. 



The Bracken is, in some places, mown and dried for litter, or for 

 making a bed to stacks. The ashes were once, in some parts of 

 Bervnckshire, as Mr. Hardy has been told, formed into a kind of 

 potash, and, with an admixture of tallow, into a home-made soap. 

 The root is considered to be poisonous to cattle. " E pastu radicum 

 Pteridis aquilinse, in arvis exaratis, boves in Gallovidia interfecti 

 fuerunt." Walker, Mam. Scot, in Essays, p. 513. There is a suspi- 

 cion that it is also the cause of the disease called the "Trembles" in 

 sheep. Ibid. p. 525. — When the thickened portion of the rachis 

 below the ground is cut through, either in a direct or oblique direc- 

 tion, the section shows a regular figure which has been said to 

 resemble a spread-eagle; but others maintain that this is the impres- 

 sion of the "deil's foot" upon it. I cannot decide which of the 

 comparisons is nearest to the reality. See Newman's British Ferns, 

 p. 14. 



22. Cryptogramma CRispA=Allosorus crispus = Pteris crispa. 

 Wahl. Fl. Lapp. 286. — Stone-Fern: Parsley-Fern. — In stony places 

 on our higher hills. N. On Cheviot, at the foot and near the 

 summit of the hill. Yevering Bell. — B. Banks of the Whiteadder 

 about half a mile above Abbey St. Bathans, Rev. Thos. Brown. 

 Black Hill at Earlston.— R. On the Eildon hills. (On Ruberslaw.) 

 — " Then suddenly stopping before a little bunch of Harebell, which, 

 along with some Parsley fern, grew out of the wall near us, he 

 exclaimed, * How perfectly beautiful that is ! ' 



' Would that the little flowers that grow could live, 

 Conscious of half the pleasure that they give.' " 



Wordsworth. Memoirs, ii. p. 451. 



23. Blechntjm BOREALE=Lomariaspicant. Common in deans 

 and on hill-sides in all our muirs, especially in stony places. Con- 

 tinues green throughout winter. 



24. OsMUNDA REGALis. Trans. Berw. N. Club, ii. 83 : Trans. 

 Tynes. N. Club, i. 348. — N. On the water ledge above the Routing- 

 Linn, where it was first noticed by Mr. James Mitchell. Mr. Greg- 

 son has recently found it in another station near the same locality. 

 The fern is of small size, and in sparing quantity, as if it were the last 

 remnants of its race, and was about to disappear from the district. 

 The locality is full of interest otherwise. 



The Horse-bog is a basin-like swamp on Doddington moor, sur- 

 rounded and defined by a heath-covered bank of slight elevation and 

 gentle acclivity. The bottom, which may be about 300 yards in dia- 

 meter, is perfectly flat ; and has its centre occupied by a thick wood 

 of Birch, Alder, and Grey-Willow, the trees rising to the height of 



