715 



upon the shores ; and Commissioners of Drainage should beware of 

 letting fresh water into their districts, for the weed will inevitably 

 enter with it, and blockade the ditches. 



Proceedings of Societies, S^c. 



The Phytologist Club. 



One Hundred and Tliirty-seventh Sitting. — Saturday, September 25, 

 1852. — Mr. Newman, President, in the chair. 



The President read the following portions of a letter from Mr. Back- 

 house, of York, dated September 13, 1852 : — 



Devonshire Variety of Lastrea Filix-mas. 



" The plant noticed in Hooker & Arnott's Flora as a variety of 

 Lastrea Filix-mas, noticed in Devonshire, with a rachis scaly nearly 

 throughout its length, and of a yellowish hue, is frequent in the moun- 

 tain districts of this county, of Durham, and of at least some parts of 

 Scotland. Its pinnules are nearly entire, truncate, or perhaps trun- 

 cately obtuse, and slightly toothed at the apex. The paleae are red- 

 dish brown, and the fronds, especially in their young state, of a 

 yellowish green. At the High Force in Upper Teesdale, on both 

 sides of the river ; near St. John's Chapel, Weardale, Durham ; at 

 the Bilberry Reservoir, Holm Moss (where it attains a height of four 

 feet) ; near Huddersfield, Yorkshire ; glens of the Clova mountains, 

 particularly the ravine of the White Water, which is at the head of 

 Glen Dole ; I have especially noticed this plant, growing in many of 

 them along with the common variety, and in the ravine of the White 

 Water along with another variety, of the usual colour, but with the 

 pinnules strongly serrated, and the lowermost strongly lobed." 



Abbreviated Form of Lastrea Filix-mas. 



" The abbreviated variety of this plant is common on the basaltic 

 cliffs of Teesdale." 



Pseudathyrium alpestre. 



" After Thomas Westcombe, of Worcester, left us, we {i. e., my son 

 and myself, who were subsequently joined by G. S. Gibson) continued 



