LASTEEA MONTANA. 131 



first, edition of Hudson's ' Flora Anglica,' the Polypodium pte- 

 rioides of Villars, the Polypodium hmbospermum of Bellardi, 

 and the Aspidium odoriferum of Gray's ' Natural Arrangement 

 of British Plants.' The earliest of these six names is monta- 

 num ; and although reluctant to exchange a name so generally 

 received as Oreopteris, for one so seldom employed as monta- 

 num, I think there is really no choice, especially as the older 

 name has been advisedly adopted by the most precise and 

 painstaking of German botanists. 



The genus Lastrea was established by Bory in the year 1834. 

 That learned author placed the present species as its type, the 

 minute, fugitive, and mconstant involucre having entirely es- 

 caped his notice, as appears from the following passage in his 

 definition of the genus : — " Sa fructification consiste en sores 

 parfaitemejit nues, c'est a dire depourvues d'induse quelconque." 

 Presl transferred the name of Lastrea to such species as FUix- 

 mas, with this altered character : — " Indusium reniforme sinu 

 affixum : " and Mr. J. Smith, Mr. Babington, and others, have 

 followed him. The time has arrived to correct this mistake, 

 and if we accept the genus Lastrea, which Eobert Brown has 

 pronounced strictly natural (see ' Plantse Javanicas Eariores,' 

 p. 4), we must accept also the type-species as our guide, and 

 exclude such species as were advisedly and designedly excluded 

 by its author. 



Lastrea montana grows throughout Europe, but, according 

 to Sadler, is confined to that continent, and I have seen it from 

 no other part of the world : in one or two instances it has been 

 confounded, though very injudiciously, with the beautiful Nova- 

 boracensis of the United States, a perfectly distinct species, 

 and closely related to Hemestheum Thelypteris. 



In many of its characters this fern is so like the last, that it 

 is constantly taken for it, a circumstance which has led to a 

 profusion of errors respecting localities. 



In Britain, this fern is an inhabitant of mountainous dis- 

 tricts ; it is more rarely found on low ground, and very seldom 

 in highly cultivated counties. It is particularly abundant in 



