GYirNOCARPIUM PHEGOPTEEIS. 51 



The figures of the beech fern are not, generally speaking, 

 satisfactory, inasmuch as they fail to give the very marked 

 character which distinguishes this truly graceful fern : its long 

 stipes, subtriangular figure, and the unusual direction, and 

 complete separation of the lowest pair of pinnse, are very strik- 

 ing characteristics. In ' English Botany ' it seems to have 

 been figured twice, first under the name of Aspidium Thelypte- 

 ris (E. B. tab. 1018), and secondly, under that of Polypodium 

 Phegopteris (E. B. tab. S224) ; neither of these figures is very 

 successful. In Bolton's 'FiKces' (tab. 20) the figure is far from 

 characteristic ; and Mr. Francis (Analysis, pi. 1, fig. 3) has, if 

 I mistake not, figured an American species in its stead. 



Gymnocarpium Phegopteris is recorded as a native of every 

 country in Europe, except Turkey and Greece ; Ledebour, in 

 his ' Flora Rossica,' gives the Altai Mountains, Lake Baikal, 

 Kamtkatcha, and Unalaska, as Asiatic habitats ; and Col. Bory 

 de St. Vincent found it in Algeria. Through the kindness of 

 my correspondents, Mr. Boott and Mr. Lea, I have received a 

 species from many and distant stations in the United States, 

 which I cannot distinguish from G. Phegopteris. 



In Great Britain it takes a range very similar to that of Al- 

 losorus crispus : in Scotland it is found in every county north 

 of the Firth of Forth ; also in the Shetlands, Hebrides, and 

 Orkneys : it is very common in the western Highlands, and 

 enjoys a great range of elevation : it occurs near the summit of 

 Ben More, Ben Lomond, and Ben Cruachan, and descends to 

 nearly the sea-level on the banks of Loch Lomond and Loch 

 Fyne. 



In England, beginning with the far North, we find it recorded by Dr. 

 Johnston for Berwickshire ; by Mr. Winch for Northumberland ; by the 

 Eev. Mr. Pinder, Mr. Heysham, and many others, for Cumberland; by 

 Mr. Bowman for Durham ; by Miss Beever, Mr. Hindson, Mr. Thomp- 

 son, and many others, for Westmoreland; by Mr. Hardy, Mr. Tatham, 

 and a great many others, for Yorkshire ; by Mr. Wilson, Mr. Sidebotham, 

 Dr. Wood, and many others, for Lancashire. At this point we come to a 

 check : it occurs but sparingly in Cheshire, for which county three localities 



