478 



I obtained plants, and supplied my friends therewith, through the kind- 

 ness of Mr. Gibbs, who was gardener to the late Mr. Haigh for more 

 than thirty years. Certainly it must have taken possession of this 

 locality before his time, as it was not until within the last five or six 

 years that Mi'. Gibbs accidentally became aware that he possessed so 

 desirable a fern ; for, although an excellent gardener, he had not at 

 that time turned his attention to the cultivation of ferns. Last week 

 I paid a visit to Furze Down, for the purpose of obtaining specimens 

 of A. fontanum ; but, alas ! it was no)i est, the walls having been 

 scraped, cleaned, and fresh pointed. Consequently not a vestige of the 

 object of ray search was to be met with ; but possibly, in time, it may 

 again peer through the crumbling mortar. How far this may go to 

 establish its claim as a British fern I must leave for others more com- 

 petent than myself to decide. Herewith I forward you a frond, ga- 

 thered from one of the two plants which I now possess, one of which 

 I shall feel much pleasure in sending, if you will accept of it, gathered 

 from the above locality. — C. Wood. 



[The frond sent is the divided form described as a distinct species, 

 under the name of Aspleniura Halleri. — E. iV.] 



Why is this species omitted in recent works on ferns ? — /. V. V. 



[Because I can find in no herbarium a frond, or even a fragment of 

 a frond, gathered within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 

 Ireland. The fern found at Kirk Hammersham, or " Hammersham 

 Church," as Hudson has it, appears to have been Cystopteris fragilis. 

 I shall regard it as a most inestimable service if any correspondent 

 will furnish me with the means of restoring this elegant fern to the 

 British list.— i;. iV.]. 



Grimmia ovata. 



I was a short time, in January, in the neighbourhood of Charnwood 

 Forest, and found the Grimmia ovata (a moss extremely rare out of 

 Scotland) on the debris of slate from the quarry in Swithland Wood. 

 — R. C. Douglas. 



Atriplex horlensis. 



Having had my attention called to the finding of the Atriplex hor- 

 tensis by Mr. Lees, I went to the locality, with but little hopes of 



