954 



am able to announce tlie judgment of Messrs. Bree, Borrer and Jenner, as correspond- 

 ing with my own." — p. 233. 



The characters by which these ferns are to be distinguished, have 

 ah-eady appeared in the pages of ' The Phytologist,' in our notice of 

 the ' Naturalist's Almanack,' (Phytol. 837) ; the only alteration to 

 which we have to invite the attention of botanists, is the substitution 

 of the name oi multijlora for that of dilatata. 



5. Aspleniacea. Under Athyrium Filix-femina, the author com- 

 prehends five of Roth's species, without expressing any very decided 

 opinion on the subject of their value. His views may be gathered 

 from the following passage. 



" By retaining all these forms under the name of Filix-femina, in accordance with 

 the views of Decandolle, Sadler, Hooker and Babington, I rather bow to the views of 

 these eminent botanists than follow any of my own. It seems to me that three at least 

 of the forms described by Roth, those adopted in the ' Naturalists' Almanack,' have 

 the habit and appearance of species ; but at the same time I cannot say that the grounds 

 of separation adduced by Roth appear to me satisfactory : neither the scales, involu- 

 cres, nor position of the clusters of capsules, are adduced as evidence ; and surely, 

 before adopting the species, we must learn whether these are dissimilar or identical. 

 Roth is entitled to great praise for what he has done, but it is left for others to earn 

 still greater praise by adducing real diagnostics to corroborate his views." — p. 247. 



The question is perhaps one of the most difficult in the study of our 

 British ferns. It appears that two of the most acute discriminators of 

 specific diff'erences insist on these plants being entitled to the rank of 

 species ; while others, whose names stand equally high, dismiss them 

 as totally unworthy of mention, even as varieties : the latter view is 

 adopted by British botanists, and seems to us uncourteous in the ex- 

 treme. How can we in fairness object to the course occasionally pur- 

 sued on the continent, of neglecting names imposed in Great Britain, 

 in order that later continental names may be substituted, while we are 

 deliberately and designedly neglecting the labours of a man like Roth, 

 whose extreme carefulness is a pattern to us all .? 



After Athyrium Filix-femina, Asplenium fontanum, or perhaps more 

 correctly, A. Halleri, should have followed in course, but the author 

 omits it altogether, and passes on to A. lanceolatum. It is, perhaps, 

 not generally known to what chance we are indebted for this fern in 

 the list of British plants ; the following particulars may interest some 

 of our readers. Hudson, in his ' Flora Anglica,' gives Polijpodium 

 fontanum with the following habitat : " Habitat in muris antiquis et 

 rupibus. supra Hammersham Church, D. Bradney ; in locis saxosis 

 prope Wybourn in Westmorlandia." Now if we study Hudson's 



