THE MOUNTAIN BUCKLER FERN. Ill 



formed above the general bog or marsh level. When 

 the boggy soil is of peat and leaf-mould the most favour- 

 able conditions of growth are provided for this species. 



WHERE FOUND. \\\ England, in the counties of Bed- 

 ford, Berks, Bucks, Cambridge, Chester, Cornwall, 

 Cumberland, Derby, Devon, Dorset, Durham, Essex, 

 Gloucester, Hants (the mainland and the Isle of Wight), 

 Hereford, Hertford, Huntingdon, Kent, Lancaster, 

 Leicester, Lincoln, Middlesex, Monmouth, Norfolk, 

 Northampton, Northumberland, Nottingham, Oxford, 

 Salop, Somerset, Stafford, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, 

 Warwick, Westmoreland, Worcester, and York. In 

 Wales, in the counties of Anglesea, Brecknock, 

 Caermarthen, Caernarvon, Flint, Glamorgan, and Merio- 

 neth. In the Isle of Man. In Scotland, in the counties 

 of Aberdeen, Argyle, Dumbarton, Dumfries, Edinburgh, 

 Elgin, Fife, Forfar, Inverness, Kincardine, Kinross, 

 Perth, Renfrew, Ross, Roxburgh, and Stirling. Also in 

 the isles of Harris, Lewis, and Uist. Its range upwards 

 from the sea-level does not extend beyond some three 

 hundred feet. 



XXXVI. THE MOUNTAIN BUCKLER FERN. 



Lastrea montana. 

 (Plate VII., Fig. i, page 61.) 



LENGTH OF FROND. One foot to four feet and a half. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. Roots abundant, long, wiry, 

 fibrous. Rootstock, a short, stout, tufted cormus, whose 

 crown is raised slightly above the surface of the ground. 

 Fronds deciduous, abundant, lemon-scented, erect-grow- 

 ing, produced in an arrangement shuttlecock-shape 

 around the crown, which is furnished with silvery-looking 

 scales in place of the rust-coloured scales on the crown 

 of the Male Fern, a species which Lastrea montana\try 



