I860.] REVIEW. 349 



form ; ^, acutum, Pollin ; and 7, obtusum, Moore^ is as follows : 

 — " Throughout Europe^ Greece,^ and Northern Asia, Turkey, 

 the shores and islands of the Mediterranean, North and South 

 Africa, Madeira, the Canaries, Azores, Cape de Verd Islands, 

 St. Helena, Abyssinia, Northern India, Afghanistan, Java, etc." 



The near relative of A. Adiantum-nigrum, viz. A. lanceolatum, 

 is distributed over "the warmer parts of Europe, especially 

 Greece, Spain, Portugal, the islands of the Mediterranean, ex- 

 tending north to the southern parts of Great Britain." We have 

 seen it in Sussex, and it grows rather plentifully in Somerset- 

 shire, not far from Bristol, especially on the road to Brockley 

 Comb, which is about nine miles from the city. 



The next British species, A. fontanum, is stated to be rare in 

 Britain. It is so rare that there are some British botanists who 

 never saw a truly wild example of it in these islands. Our author 

 records as its habitats France, Germany, Spain, Italy ; only the 

 two former can be deemed in " the centre of Europe." Though 

 rare in Great Britain, it is more than probable that it is a true 

 native of England. 



On Asplenium Filix-foemina, which even in our day has seen 

 many changes and had to make many shifts, the learned author 

 sensibly remarks : " Botanists have encumbered even the British 

 plant with a host of synonyms, of which the. careful Moore has 

 enumerated eighteen different specific names, and has thought 

 fit to record and name and define thirty-one varieties. This 

 Eern has a large geographical range, and is subject to much va- 

 riation in the size and shape of its fronds." 



Our readers will be delighted to be informed that the rare 

 Asplenium germanicum is not unknown in the south-west of Eng- 

 land, where it was collected by Mr. N, B. Ward, who found it 

 on a stone wall near Oare, on the borders of Somerset and Devon. 

 Our readers were informed years ago that it had been found in 

 Cumberland, by the Rev. W. H. Hawker, and there were ob- 

 scure intimations of its discovery on the confines of Devon. This 

 fact may not be considered as sufficiently established, and we are 

 pleased to see it recorded in a national and standard work like 

 the ' Species Eilicum.' 



* Modem geographers include G-reece and Turkey (the western parts of the 

 empire) in Evirope, and some of the shores and islands of the Mediterranean are in 

 this quarter of the globe. 



