CYSTOPTERIS FEA&ILIS. 89 



The little ferns constituting the present group, were com- 

 prised under the name of Polypodium fragile by Linneus and 

 our earlier authors ; Sprengel, Willdenow, Schkuhr, Wahlen- 

 berg, and other emment botanists, make them Aspidia. Bern- 

 hardi was the first to separate them from this unmanageably 

 extensive group, under the generic name of Cystopteris ; Roth 

 gave them the name of Cyathea, and Smith that of Cystea, the 

 latter being a mere alteration from Bernhardi's prior name, 

 because Cystopteris is " compounded of another established " 

 name, Pteris, (Eng. Flor. iv. 285). The name has been altered 

 to Cistopteris by several modern authors, an orthography at 

 variance with the Greek derivation : in fact, there is no suffi- 

 cient reason for altering or modifying a name that possesses 

 the acknowledged right to adoption on account of its priority. 



My views having in more than one instance undergone con- 

 siderable modification as regards the limits of species, I turned 

 my attention to the cultivation of the beautiful little ferns I 

 have always grouped together under the name of Cystopteris 

 fragilis, in the hope of discovering some characters whereby the 

 various forms might be satisfactorily distinguished from each 

 other. Several botanists of eminence have undertaken, some- 

 what too readily, the establishment of new species ; dwarf size, 

 imperfect fructification, or even, in more than one instance, 

 mere accidental deformity, having furnished the chief diagnos- 

 tic. Now, as in Zoology we endeavour to refer the females and 

 young, and even individuals that have undergone mutilation, 

 to the same species as the adult male, so would I, in ferns, ra- 

 ther refer specimens which appear in any degree imperfect to 

 some established species, expressing a doubt if I entertained 

 one, than separate such imperfect specimens under a new ap- 

 pellation. In every attempt I make to establish or ascertain a 

 species, I find it most satisfactory to dismiss entirely all such 

 specimens, to refuse all cognizance of them, and to contrast 

 the most perfect and most fruitful fronds only. For, as in 

 Zoology we find specific differences most satisfactorily deve- 

 loped in adults, so shall we also find in ferns ; and if essential 

 differences really exist, we shall be sure to see those differences 

 more clearly when Nature has brought the objects under con- 

 sideration to their highest state of perfection, maturity, and 

 beauty. Entertaining these views, I have dismissed from the 



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