POLYSTICHUM LONCHITIS. 105 



It seems desirable, under this head, to express a doubt as to 

 whether the fern known by this name on the continent is pre- 

 cisely identical with our British plant. The specimen in the 

 Linnean herbarium rather resembles a seedling of the following 

 than a mature plant of the present species ; and the habitat 

 given by European botanists does not quite correspond with 

 those in which it occurs in Britain : it is said to grow in the 

 "hois montagneux" of France, in the " sylvis montosis subal- 

 pinis " of Lower Germany, in the " umbrosis alpestribus " of 

 Transylvania, in the "forets" of the Jura, and so forth; the in- 

 ference being that it is a sylvan rather than a rupestral plant. 

 The name of the fern occurs in the Floras for Lapland, Swe- 

 den, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, France, Switzerland, Italy, 

 and Eussia; it also appears to occur throughout Asiatic Russia, 

 even including Kamtkatcha; and it is said to be a native of 

 North America : Sadler states it has not been found in Spain. 



In Britain it is a rare fern, being confined to bleak and ex- 

 posed mountains : its chief localities are as under : — 



In Scotland it has been found and recorded in no less than nine coun- 

 ties, by botanists whose knowledge of the plant cannot be questioned : these 

 are Sutherland, Ross, Inverness, Moray, Aberdeen, Forfar, Perth, Argyle, 

 and Dumbarton : the chief stations are Ben More, in Sutherlandshire ; 

 Ben Lawers and Craig Challiach in Perthshire ; the Clova Mountains, 

 Glen Fiadh, and Craig Maid in Forfarshire. I have to acknowledge the 

 kindness of Drs. Greville and Balfour, and Mr. Kippist, in supplying me 

 with Scotch specimens, and my obligations to Messrs. Backhouse, Garden- 

 er, Gourlie, Stables, Watson, and Westcombe, for information as regards 

 localities, &c. It is next to impossible to look at a map of Scotland, and 

 observe how large a space is occupied by the nine counties enumerated 

 above, without regarding it as a widely distributed fern in that kingdom. 

 Lanark and Orkney have been added, but Mr. Watson (Cyb. Brit. iii. 261) 

 does not seem inclined to accept the authority as satisfactory. 



In England, its discovered habitats are almost confined to the single 

 county of York : I am indebted to Mr. Tatham for specimens from the 

 neighbourhood of Settle ; to Mr. Thompson, for others from Attermire 

 Scar ; and I have seen others gathered on Ingleborough. Mr. Backhouse, 

 and many other botanists, have seen it growing in great luxuriance on Fal- 

 con OUnts, in Teesdale, just where the basalt joins the limestone. This 



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