252 87. FiLiCES. 



from various countries, appear more to support than to 

 oppose the views of those botanists who hohl the two to 

 be distinct. Yet a circumstance has been reported to me, 

 which, if correct, wouki estabhsh the s^iecific identity of 

 the two beyond question or cavil. The circumstance is 

 shortly this : — Mr. Macnab had divided a root of W. liy- 

 perborea (believed to have been true hyperborea origmally) 

 into four portions ; he sent one portion of it to Pro- 

 fessor Arnott ; but this same portion turned out to be W. 

 ilvensis, when it reached the hands of Dr. Arnott. I am 

 not aware from what locality the plant had originally been 

 brought into the Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, under the 

 care of Mr. Macnab. 



1374. PoLYPODiUM vuLGAEE, Linn. 



Area general. 



South limit in Cornwall, Isle of Wight, Kent. 

 North limit in Shetland, Orkney, Hebrides. 

 Estimate of provinces 18. Estimate of counties 82. 

 <£$ Latitude 50 — 61. British type of distribution, 



cs^ A. A. regions. Inferagrarian — Inferarctic zones. 



^' Descends to the coast level, in the Peninsula. 



^ Ascends to 700 yards, in East Highlands. 



«_,' Range of mean annual temperature 52 — 40. 



^ Native. Eupestral, Sylvestral, &c. The only doubt 



that arises, in respect to the complete comital distribution 

 of this common fern, does so from the circumstance of 

 Mr. Newman stating (Phji;ol. i. 34) that the Polypodium 

 vulgare of Edmondston's list of Shetland plants, in the 

 Annals of Natural History, was really Blechnum boreale, 

 as shown in a specimen of the latter, which Mr. E. had 

 y^ labelled by the name of the former fern. A barren frond 



H^" 



^5 



1 



