132 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CORNISH FLORA. 



to have heen gathered in a shady ditch at Yelinvran, August 4th, 

 1754. This is the plant mentioned by Parkinson in his Theatruni 

 Botanicum, 1640, as growing near Eomney, in Kent, where it is 

 recorded Julius Csesar landed, and concerning which he has the 

 following amusing statement : — " It is reported that the souldiers 

 brought some of the seede and sowed it there for their use, to 

 rubbe and chafe their limbes, when through extreame cold they 

 should be stiffe and benumbed ; being told before they came from 

 home, that the climate of Brittaine was so extreme cold that it 

 was not to be endured without some friction or rubbing, to warme 

 their bloods, and to stirre up natural heat." Cornish people may 

 have put the Cornish plant to a .similar use after Borlase's 

 announcement of its occurrence, and thus have robbed the 

 county's flora of a nettle with a curious history ! 



Tricliomanes radimns, Sw. The inclusion of this fern, as rare 

 as it is beautiful, in Cornish lists has been the subject of much 

 dispute. First mention of it is made by Master Tracey Millett, 

 who places it with nine other species of ferns new to the county, 

 in a contribution to the " Transactions" of the Penzance Natural 

 History and Antiquarian Society for 1854, but on what authority 

 or from what place does not appear. Next reference to it is met 

 in the Annual Report of the Cheltenham College Natural History 

 Society, for 1870, where it is said to have been gathered by one 

 of the members in Cornwall. In a notice of the Report in 

 Nature, February 23rd, 1871, it is stated this record "must be 

 received with caution. Although this would not be ' the only 

 spot in England where that fern has yet been found ' (there being 

 old records of its having been gathered in Derbyshire, and it 

 having recently been unquestionably met with in North Wales), 

 and there is no inherent improbability in its growing in Cornwall, 

 yet the specimen stated to have been gathered ' not half an inch 

 high ' can scarcely have been satisfactorily determined to be this' 

 rare fern. Seedling ferns of all kinds are extremely difficult to 

 distinguish, and when growing in damp places frequently simulate 

 the filmy appearance of the Irish fern." 



So far it would seem as if a strong case had been made 

 against the occurrence of the fern in Cornwall ; but on April 27th 

 following, the weight of evidence is turned in the opposite 

 direction by the following letter from Mr. Everard F. im Thurn : 



