GYMNOCAEPIUM PHEGOPTERIS. 53 



In NoBTH Wales I have noted upwards of thirty stations where I have 

 myself observed it ; and at least an equal number have been recorded for 

 South Wales. 



In the Isle of Man it has been found by Professor E. Forbes. 



In Irelakb, the beech fern is of rare occurrence, and appears to grow 

 nowhere abundantly. During a ramble of eight weeks in that beautiful 

 island, I was never successful in finding it, although I examined many sta- 

 tions that I thought well adapted for it ; others, however, have been more 

 fortunate. Mr. Mackay found it at the waterfall above Lough Eske, in the 

 county Donegal ; the late Mr. Thompson met with it on the banks of the 

 Glenarve river, half a mile from Oushendall in the county Antrim ; and 

 Mr. Moore, of Glasnevin, observed it at several mountain rills and water- 

 falls in the same county. Mr. Thompson also gathered specimens upon 

 Slieve Bignian, on rough ground two miles south of Slieve Oroob, and on 

 the Black Mountain, above Tollymore Park, all in the county Down : and 

 on Carlingford Mountain, in the county Louth. My friend, Mr. E. T. 

 Bennett, informs me that he has specimens collected on Garoom Mountain, 

 Letterfrack, in Cunnemara, by Mr. Ellis. The late Dr. Taylor found it 

 near Mr. Herbert's residence at Muckruss, in Kerry ; and Mr. Moore, Mr. 

 Ward, and Dr. Harvey have observed it in the neighbourhood of Killarney. 

 The late Mr. Templeton found it in Glen Ness, in Londonderry ; and, 

 lastly, Mr. Mackay, and a number of botanists and tourists following his 

 footsteps, have observed it at Powerscourt waterfall, in the county Wicklow. 



The more abundant distribution of tbis plant in Scotland 

 and tbe North of England, leads one at first to regard it as a 

 boreal, or, at least, as an alpine species ; but tbis conclusion 

 seems to be erroneous. My brother, who, as an invalid, resided 

 for several years in the South of France, brought home speci- 

 mens from Ax, Grasse, Montpellier, and Toulon ; at the last- 

 named town it grew almost at the sea-level, in company with 

 Adiantum Capillus-Veneris ; the late Col. Bory de St. Vincent 

 also found it on the Mediterranean coast, both French and Al- 

 gerian : and the most boreal or alpine recorded French locality 

 is in Auvergne. I know nothing of the conditions under which 

 it occurs in Italy and Spain. In Great Britain it affects wet 

 woods and waterfalls, delighting to wave its peculiarly graceful 

 fronds within reach of the spray. In such situations, the rhi- 

 zome intermingles with the moss, or winds about in the light 

 moist earth, or creeps over the dripping surface of a rock, 

 seeming to rejoice in the humidity of the atmosphere. 



