MOUNTAIN POLYPODY. 83 



The other species of Polypodium, now to be described, are 

 without the articulation of the stipes, and, in consequence, some 

 authors constitute them a separate genus under the name of 

 Phegopteris. 



Mountain Polypody (Polypodium phegopteris). 



The contrast between the robust Male-fern and the fragile 

 Marsh-fern is repeated among the Polypodies by the vigorous 

 viilgare and the &&\\c?A.z.phegopteris. Modern fern describers have 

 got into the way of writing down this species as the Beech-fern. 

 Although it is often a convenience, where there is no real folk- 

 name, to translate the specific name, it is certainly not advisable 

 to do so when it would create an erroneous impression. Linnaeus 

 named this phegopteris (beech-fern) and the next species 

 dryopteris (oak-fern), but he must have been hard pressed for 

 names just then, for neither has any connection with, or 

 resemblance to, the tree associated with it. With all respect 

 for Juliet's opinion, there is some importance in names, and 

 when they are of a nature to call up a mental image they may 

 be most misleading. We remember to have read somewhere a 

 description by a lady writer who had apparently never seen 

 dryopteris, but was so impressed by the name that she was led 

 into saying that a colony of this fern had the appearance of 

 " an oak-forest in miniature." With that example of the 

 tyranny of names in our memory, we decline to give further 

 currency to these two. 



The rootstock of the Mountain Polypody is long, slender, 

 black and sparingly scaly, sometimes running over the surface 

 of the ground, at others creeping over the vertical face of the 

 rock. The fronds are produced alternately from the right and 

 left sides of the rootstock. The frond, which is wedge-shaped 

 and of a pale soft green colour, varies from a foot to a foot and 

 a half in length, reckoning the stipes, which is always at least 



