1099 



had ever heard of such names, though I took great pains in making 

 clear what ought to be its situation, and the way in which the names 

 were spelled, not trusting to my pronunciation. Such being the case, 

 I was obliged to trust to myself, and search diligently, and had the 

 pleasure of discovering a locality for the said fern, which I suppose 

 to be the third in which it has been found in Scotland. It is not Mr. 

 Borrer's station, directions for which 1 have since received, but may be 

 six to eight miles distant from it. I found one frond only in fruit. It is, 

 indeed, a most delicate and beautiful fern. The rhizoma is creeping, 

 as in P. Dryopteris. Habit : — stipes erect ; the upper portion of the 

 frond nearly horizontal, consequently it has somewhat of an elbow at 

 the junction, though not so much as in P. Dryopteris ; the ends of the 

 pinnae and frond are rather depressed, as far as I recollect. The 

 figure in Newman's ' Ferns ' is good, and represents a full-sized speci- 

 men. The stipes is generally half the total length of the frond ; 

 fronds from 2 to 6 inches in length, not rigid, of a delicate pale 

 green ; substance as delicate and fragile as C. fragilis grown in shady 

 places. Habitat : — mountain ravines, on ledges of rock, in moist 

 situations ; rhizoma creeping among moss, and throwing up its fronds 

 sparingly." — Thomas Westcombe ; August 22, 1853. 



Note on Pseudathyriumjlexile. 



" I have not met with this again, and suspect that it is quite of rare 

 occurrence. I did not revisit the glen in which we found it ; and if 

 it should not be found in more places, I should be cautious of giving 

 directions to its site. I think that it is quite distinct from P. alpestre ; 

 and if it had not been already brought forward as a distinct species, I 

 should have done so. The two plants look quite different in cultiva- 

 tion. The frond of P. flexile is linear-lanceolate, with the pinnae 

 short and decidedly deflexed ; it fruits in quite a small state, as com- 

 pared with P. alpestre ; indeed, I have never seen the latter in fruit, 

 except in large, strong plants, in which case it bears a strong resem- 

 blance to Atbyrium Filix-fcemina. I have a good-sized plant in my 

 garden, but it shows no sign of fructification ; whereas my P. flexile, 

 though less than six inches in length, is in fruit. The latter is grown 

 in pots, in a cold frame. I am not sure that we found both plants 

 growing together, but I am inclined to think that we did. P. alpestre 

 I found sparingly on Benlawers, abundantly in Canlochen and Olen 

 Callater. I have roots from these three places. I observed very little 

 in fructification ; in fact, none worth preserving, under the circum- 

 stance of my press being nearly full." — Id. 



