HISTORY OF INTRODUCTION OP EXOTIC FERNS. 5 



sensibilis from North. America, the former in 1680 and 

 the latter in 1699, in which year also Adiantum reni- 

 forme and Davallia Canariensis were brought from 

 Madeira, while the fifth, Bleclmum australe, was, 

 according to Plukenet, who figured it in the second 

 part of his " Phytographia," cultivated in the King's 

 garden at Hampton Court as early as the year 1671, 

 when his work was published, the garden there 

 containing a considerable collection of rare plants. 

 During the next forty-two years no additions appear 

 to have been made, excepting the Phlebodium 

 aureunij which was introduced by Lord Petre at 

 some time prior to 1742, the date of his death, the 

 precise year being unknown. Progressing onwards, 

 I do not find any more recorded until the year 1 769 ; 

 but between that year and the commencement of 

 the following century sixty-eight species were added 

 to the eight already existing in our gardens. Out of 

 this large number, no less than thirty- seven were 

 brought home by Kear-Admiral Bligh, in H.M.S. 

 Providence, on his return, in 1793, from his second 

 voyage, undertaken for the purpose of introducing 

 the Bread-fruit and other useful trees into our West 

 Indian colonies. And, finally, during the first few 

 years of the present century, up to 1813, the date of 

 the publication of the "Hortus Kewensis," seven 

 others were introduced. 



A summary of the foregoing shows that upwards 

 of one-half of the Ferns known at the last-mentioned 

 date were West Indian species, forty-four having been 

 received at various times from those islands, the 

 majority through Blights expedition. North America 

 and Madeira, with the neighbouring islands, stand 



