One or two words on the special ferns of the district. In some 

 low, dropping caves between Hayle and St. Ives, Adiantum Capillus- 

 Veneris grows in tolerable abundance, and perhaps finer than in any 

 other of our native habitats. Fortunately some of it is out of reach, 

 and it is extending itself along the face of the cliff. Asplenium 

 marinum occupies all the crevices among the huge piles of rocks 

 about the Logan, and in numerous other places along the coast. It 

 covers the roof of the great cave at Mousehole with a magnificent 

 drapery, but the finest are here quite inaccessible. We have fronds 

 from the rocks at Laraorna measuring twenty-one inches in length. 

 Osmunda regalis is abundant in most of the low, boggy parts, and in 

 some situations attains an extraordinary height. At Gurnard's Head 

 we saw it in the unusual position of growing on the side of a perpen- 

 dicular cliiF, washed by the salt spray, along with Asplenium marinum. 

 Lastrea recurva, which we first met with near Truro, is found, more 

 or less, all round the immediate vicinity of Penzance. Beyond 

 Madron, about two miles northward, it becomes extremely abundant. 

 There can be no doubt of the specific distinctness of this highly 

 beautiful fern when seen luxuriating in a natural habitat. In tlie 

 lanes here it covers the banks, and occupies the interstices of the 

 stone hedges, with its bright-green, triangular fronds, peculiar crisped 

 appearance, narrow, concolorous, laciniated scales, and sub-prostrate 

 habit, almost to the exclusion of any other species. Occasionally, 

 however, we found a plant or two of L. multiflora or L. spinosa in 

 company, which only served to render the distinctions more obvious. 

 The glory, however, of this district is Asplenium lanceolatum. It 

 grows on the walls and hedge-banks almost all about Penzance, but 

 much more sparingly on the eastern side, and towards Helston and 

 the Lizard it almost disappears. In the parish of St. Just, as you 

 proceed westward, it seems to become more and more abundant with 

 every step. We frequently observed this fern covering the wall or 

 bank on one side of the road, while Lastrea recurva clothed the other 

 exclusively, but in other spots they grew friendly and intermixed. 

 From a hole in a bank, about half a mile from the sea, we drew out a 

 single root, upon which, after reaching home, were counted seventy 

 fronds, and then, getting tired and confused, it was given up. Still 

 nearer the sea this fern formed the entii'e covering of the various loose 

 stone-walls, along several miles of the country, with its green and 

 vigorous fronds, and but rarely presented that singularly shrivelled 

 appearance, which is so remarkable a characteristic in most of its 

 Welsh stations. 



