52 



be a mixture of peat and sand in about equal proportions, or an 

 additional fourth of the latter material may be added to the ordi- 

 nary compost ; pieces of broken slate or angular fragments of gra- 

 nite forced through the loose soil at the time of planting and be- 

 fore settling the whole by watering, assist the after- drain age, and 

 form a medium over which the growing radicles are encouraged to 

 extend their ramifications. The pots may be kept in a cold frame 

 or green-house ; in the latter case, it is better to cover it with a 

 glass shade. In the hot-house it will attain a large size, and when 

 the air is kept moist, does not require a glass. In such circum- 

 stances I have seen the fronds eighteen or twenty inches long; 

 certainly it luxuriates in warmth. 



The distribution of this species, extending from the north of 

 Africa and the Canaries and Madeiras, along the shores of Spain 

 and France, and its absence in other parts of Europe, apparently 

 well authenticated, is a curious geographical phenomenon, pointing 

 to a probability of its having taken place prior to the great disrup- 

 tion of the chalk and the vast deposit of alluvial matter along the 

 eastern coast of England, especially when added to the fact of its 

 sparing occurrence in Hampshire and Sussex, and to its non- 

 existence throughout the former line of connexion between this 

 country and the continent, and even beyond this northward to 

 Flamborough Head. 



The pinnae of A. marinum are occasionally very narrow, and the 

 serratures so deep as to give a totally different aspect to the plant; 

 but no permanent or decided varieties exist deserving more than a 

 passing notice. 



ASPLENIUM TRICHOMANES. Common Wall Spleenwort. Com- 

 mon Maiden-hair. TAB. XXX. 



Fronds linear, pinnate: pinna opposite, roundish-oblong, ob- 

 tuse, crenated, stalked, truncated and cuneate below. Kachis 

 purple or black. 



Asplenium Trichomanes, Linnaus. Smith. E.B. 576. Hooker and 

 Arnott. Babington. Moore. Newman. 



This beautiful little evergreen fern is one of very general distri- 

 bution on shaded rocks, old walls and buildings, generally selecting 

 a northern aspect, or at least a position not exposed to the sun ; 

 occasionally it is met with covering hedge-banks in a sandy soil! 

 The fronds grow in tufts from a short, dense rhizoma, erect or 

 spreading according to circumstances, and vary in length from two 

 or three inches to a foot. The rachis is smooth, glossy, of a deep 

 purple approaching to black, and leafy almost to the base. The 



