^^^ MALE FERN. 



consifcleration with the Aspiclium or Polystichum affine of those 

 authors : but against tliis an earlier name is brought on the 

 carpet by high authority. Sir William Hooker refers this 

 fern fit his Aspidium Filix-mas, but also considers that it is 

 identical with the Aspidium erosum of Schkuhr, found by that 

 eminent pteridographer near Dresden, and figured in his great 

 work, (t. 45). This opinion is repeated by Mr. Francis (Anal. 

 39), and again by the distinguished authors of the sixth edition 

 of the ' British Flora ; ' and acting on this, but not believing it 

 a species, they call the fern Aspidium Filix-mas, B. erosum. 

 These learned botanists have evidently omitted to observe that 

 the A. erosum of Schkuhr has a flat involucre, with reniform 

 outline, and free elevated margin, beset with stalked glands : 

 these and other characters bring the A. erosum of Schkuhr 

 very near to the Lophodium multiflorum of this work. The 

 next notice of this plant is in the 'British Ferns' (p. 201), where 

 I have purposely abstained from giving it another name : I ac- 

 knowledge my obligation to Miss Browne, of Tallantire Hall, 

 near Cockermouth, for a series of specimens, and then point 

 out the characters in which it differs from the ordinary form of 

 Filix-mas, and figure a distinctive pinnule. Mr. T. Moore re- 

 describes this fern in the ' Phytologist ' (iii. 137), giving it the 

 name of Lastrea Filix-mas, var. incisa ; but he goes unnecessa- 

 rily out of his way to criticise my prior description, saying that 

 Mr. Newman " does not very distinctly explain nor indicate its 

 peculiarities." In order to prove this, he cites my brief dia- 

 gnosis minus the following words : — " The pinnules are longer, 

 narrower, and more distant [than in the ordinary form of FUix- 

 mas], as represented in the pimia figure a [page 183] : the first 

 upper j^innule Is generally much longer than the first inferior^ 

 And thus he really appears to justify his very uncandid ob- 

 servation. 



Roth, as we have seen, notes this fern as an inhabitant of 

 Germany, and Ledebour gives it the following range in the 

 Russian empire : — "In the South of Russia near Stawropol ; 

 in the Caucasus near Somchetia ; in the territory of Eliza- 



