50 BEECH FERN. 



the base, pointing forwards ; all pinnatifid : colour dull green : 

 stipes concolorous, slightly scaly. 



PoljTpodium Phegopteris, Linn. Sj). PL 1550 ; Lightf. Fl. 

 Scot. 669 ; Huds. Fl. Aug. 456 ; With. Arr. 775 ; Sm. E. 

 F. iv. 283, E. B. 2224 ; Mack. Fl. Hib. 337 ; Franc. 33 ; 

 Nenm. F. 115 ; Hook, and Am. 566 ; Moore, 47. 



Polipodium Phegopteris, Bolt. Fil. Brit. 36, t. 20. 



Aspidium Thelypteris, Sm. E. B. 1018. 



Lastrea Phegopteris, Bory, Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat. ix. 252 ; 

 Newm. N.A.17,F.1S. 



Polypodium ? Phegopteris, Bab. 408. 



Gymnocarpium Phegopteris, Newm. Phyt. iv. 371, Aj^iJ. xxiii. 



Polystichum Phegopteris, Roth. Fl. Germ. iii. 72. 



The ferns for which I propose the generic name of Gymno- 

 carpium, form a small, hut, as it appears to me, a very natural 

 group. Most of our authors, modern as well as ancient, include 

 them, together with the last-described species, Ctenopteris vul- 

 garis, and also Pseudathyrium alpestre hereafter to be noticed, 

 in the genus Polypodium. My late friend. Colonel Bory de St. 

 Vincent, when he established the genus Lastrea in 1824, men- 

 tioned only two European species, Oreopteris and Thelypteris, 

 as referrible thereto ; but two years subsequently, namely, in 

 1826, he added three others, — Phegopteris, Dryopteris and Eo- 

 bertianum : and every botanist will admit that there is great 

 similarity in structure amongst all the five species, and that 

 they associate very naturally : nevertheless, I think it better to 

 separate the species into two groups, until there is a greater 

 fixity in the characters and limits of the genera of ferns. 



The specific name of Phegopteris is of universal acceptation, 

 although both this, and the English name of " beech fern," a 

 literal translation, seem very inappropriate, as was observed by 

 the late Sir J. E. Smith ; and I feel at a loss to discover the 

 reason for either having been employed. Both of them convey 

 an obviously incorrect impression, as neither the characters nor 

 localities of the fern have any connexion with the beech tree. 



