106 



HOLLY FEEX. 



locality is ten mUes west of Middleton, and on the Durham side of the 

 stream, although immediately adjoining the county of York. 



In Wales I believe it has been discovered in one county only, and here 

 it has been known ever since the time of Kay, who described the habitat in 

 these words : — " E rupium fissuris emergit in summis jugis Arvoniae v. g. 

 Clogmjn y Garnedh y Grib Goch Tryr/vylchau, D. Lloyd." In this sta- 

 tion it has been since recorded by Bolton ; and Hudson says it is plentiful 

 on the mountains sbove Llanberis, which probably means the Clogwyn y 

 Garnedh station, and this station, as well as Cwm Idwell, have frequently 

 been recorded by hving botanists. The Rev. Mr. Finder, who found it on 

 Snowdon, as well as on Glyder Vawr, and at both places in fructification, 

 observes that the plants are more lax in their habit than those from Scot- 

 land ; and my own experience quite confirms this observation. I was suc- 

 cessful in flading the plant in several localities near the upper extremity of 

 Twll dhu, that remarkable fissure which opens into Cwm Idwell, and which, 

 the tradition of the neighbourhood asserts, was rent at the crucifixion of our 

 Saviour, a tradition to which few educated men will be inclined to listen. 

 It grows, not only at the immediate upper entrance of the fissure, but also 

 on the right, near the spot where Authericum serotinum is found; a dan- 

 gerous locality, by the way, and one which requires the botanist to possess 

 a firm foot and a cool head. Again repassing the upper entrance of the fis- 

 sure, and descending towards Llyn Idwell by the precipitous and somewhat 

 instable surface of the rock, P. Lonchitis occurs sparingly among thou- 

 sands of plants of P. aculeatum of every form that can be imagined. In 

 this natural botanical garden, large plants of a mountain Thalictrum form 

 prominent and striking objects. Mr. G. Maw has lately shown me a fine 

 specimen of this fern from the Snowdon district. 



In Ireland, Polystichum Lonchitis is a rare fern, but occurs in a few 

 localities, of a very rigid, erect, and characteristic form. Mr. David Moore, 

 of the Glasnevin Botanic Garden, at Dublin, a botanist to whom I am in- 

 debted for much valuable information, has found it in the Rosses and Tha- 

 uet Passes in the county Donegal. Dr. Mackay, of the College Botanic 

 Garden, at Dublin, another Irish botanist to whom my best thanks are due, 

 found it on the Ben Bulben mountains, in the county Sligo, in 1833, and 

 remarks that it had been previously found there by Mr. E. Murphy : and 

 Mr. W. Wilson, Mr. S. P. Woodward, Mr. Ward, and a number of other 

 botanistSj have found it on Brandon Hill, in the county Kerry : to Mr. 

 Woodward I am indebted for specimens from this locality ; and to Mr. 

 Ward for the sight of others, truly curious from the size and solidity of 

 their caudices, which have probably weathered the mountain storms for 

 hundreds of years : the basal portion of each frond still remains in situ, and 

 the solid caude.x, of which they form an integral part, forcibly reminds one 

 of the more erect and elongate stem of a tropical tree-fern. 



