52 BEECH FEEN. 



only are recorded : Mr. Pinder finds it at Mow Cop, Mr. Sidebotham at 

 Werneth, and Mr. Bradbury, according to the ' Botanist's Guide,' in Early 

 Banks Wood, near Staley Bridge, Dr. Wood informs me that he found 

 it in profusion on the limestone rooks in Derbyshire ; Mr. Pinder has found 

 two locahties in Staffordshire, — Ridge Hill and Madeley Manor ; it occurs 

 in company with AUosorus crispus on the Titterstone Glee in Shropshire, 

 and Mr. Westcott has also found a station nearer Ludlow ; I have found it 

 abundantly near Amestrey quarry, in Herefordshire. The following record 

 of its discovery in Gloucestershire is interesting : — " During a day's ex- 

 cursion in the Forest of Dean this summer, I had the pleasure of very un- 

 expectedly meeting with that elegant fern Polypodium Phegopteris. About 

 a mile and a half above Lydbrook, towards Coleford, out of a low wall by 

 the road-side, grows Polypodium caloareum. The station for Phegopteris 

 is nearly opposite this, on the other side of the road, a short distance within 

 the wood. It is growing among bushes, in a boggy bit of ground ; I think 

 in rather an unusual position, its favourite habitat being among moss on 

 rocks and stones, amid the spray of waterfalls. Although a considerable 

 patch of a hundred or two fronds, it bad not attained to near that luxuri- 

 ance and size of frond which makes it such a beautiful object in some more 

 mountainous parts of the country. But it is an interesting addition to the 

 ferns of Gloucestershire, in which county I am not awai'e that it has been 

 previously recorded." — Mr. E. T. Bennett, in Phytol. iii. 741'. In Devon- 

 shire, there are some dozen or more well-authenticated habitats for this 

 fern : Mr. Ralfs has discovered it in many and distant stations on Dart- 

 moor ; Mr. Babington at Sheep's Tor ; Miss HiU at Ilfracombe ; the Rev. 

 W. S. Hore on the summit of Cock's Tor ; Mr. Kingston at Becky Falls. 

 In Cornwall, Mr. Borrer found it at Tintagel, on the road towards Camel- 

 ford ; and, finally, it has been discovered in two widely separated localities 

 in Sussex : first, by Mr. Jenner, " in a boggy spot on the forest, near 

 Kidbrook Park pales. Forest Row " ; and, secondly, by Messrs. Lloyd and 

 M'Ennes, near the Balcombe station on the London and Brighton Railway: 

 — " In a somewhat shady portion of elevated ground, at a distance of about 

 two mUes from Balcombe, and near the line of the tunnel, we had the good 

 fortune to find Polypodium Phegopteris in the most beautiful condition. 

 The fronds were unusually large and luxuriant, averaging, when measui'ed, 

 together with the long naked stipes, more than two feet in length. Its 

 luxuriance and delicate colour combined to render it a beautiful and truly 

 interesting object." — J. Lloyd and K. M'Ennes, in Pliytol. iv. 607. In 

 consequence of'tliis record, many readers of the ' Phytologist ' have been to 

 the station indicated, and have found the species in great profusion ; m- 

 deed, I incline to believe, it is generally distributed over the forest in the 

 Balcombe vicinity. 



