1857.] PTERIS AQUILINA. 67 



SomersetsMre. The place was pointed out to me, and I disco- 

 vered the Fern growing plentifully on a wall, M^hich extended 

 some distance. My sister, who was with me, called my atten- 

 tion to another Fern on the same wall, which on examination 

 proved to be Asplenium germanicum, and on searching further I 

 found several roots, four of which I brought away with me ; one 

 of them I dried, and the other three are grovring under a glass. 

 —A. C. Payne." 



For obvious reasons^ Miss Payne very properly is desirous that 

 the more exact locality should not be stated. I may add, in con- 

 firmation of the above, that a specimen with which I have been 

 favoured is without doubt the true Asplenium germanicum of the 

 larger form, which occurs abundantly in Switzerland. 



T. MOOBE. 



Chelsea, Jan. 20, 1857. 



UNCOMMON STATE OP PTEEIS AQUILINA. 



Pteris aquilina at the Public Baths, Coventry. By T. Kirk. 



The curious state of Pteris aquilina,* respecting which your 

 correspondent requests information, first made its appearance in 

 1853, — the bottom of a place intended for a plunging-bath, but 

 remaining in an unfinished state, being completely covered with 

 a d^nse carpet of the seedling state of this Fern. The soil in 

 which it grows is nothing more than ceiling mortar, and the Hke 

 rubbish, fi'om the demolition of old buildings, which must have 

 been deposited on the spot previous to the erection of the baths, 

 and readily crumbles to dust, as it obtains no moisture except 

 what it derives from the atmosphere. Diu'ing the first two sea- 

 sons the entire fronds were of a more delicate pale green colour, 

 and the pinnse much more diaphanous, than in the ordinaiy seed- 

 ling state of the plant. No approach to fructification has yet 

 been noticed; in fact, except that its delicate transpai'ency of 

 texture is in some measure lost, and the fronds are somewhat 

 stronger, all the characteristics of its seedling state are retained. 

 Many of the plants now have rhizomes six to ten inches long, 

 with fronds four feet and upwards in length, but unable to bear 

 theii- own weight. Bipinnate and tripinnate fronds frequently 

 occur on the same root ; some fr'onds were produced this season 



* See 'Pliytologist; pp. 390 and 463. 



