190 



MALE FEBN. 



There is an evident allusion to this fern in the sixth edition 

 of the ' British Flora,' as below : — " Mr. Borrer finds a vari- 

 ety, common in Devonshire, with more copious and brighter 

 coloured scales on the stipes and racliis, and with a bright 

 golden yellow tinge on the whole frond." 



Mr. Backhouse, in the passage cited below, evidently alludes 

 to this fern as a variety. 



I have seen this fern repeatedly in continental collections, 

 but not distinguished as a variety. I have no reason to doubt 

 its frequent occurrence throughout the continent of Europe, 

 but the ordinary continental form of Filix-mas manifestly ap- 

 proaches more nearly to the plant previously described. 



The first recorded British habitat of this fern is in Devonshire, where it 

 was observed by Mr. Borrer, (see Hook, and Am. 569) j but the plant has 

 been familiar to me for many years. I have found it occasionally in Here- 

 fordshhe, Shropshire, Worcestersliire, Sussex, Surrey and Kent, butahvays 

 regarded it as the true or normal form of Filk-mas, because it has been 

 selected for representation by almost all authors. Mr. Baoldiouse extends 

 its range northwards; he writes thus: — "The plant noticed in Hooker and 

 Amott's Flora as a variety of Lastrea FiUx-mas, noticed in Devonshire, 

 with a raohis scaly nearly throughout its length and of a yellowish hue, is 

 frequent in the mountain districts of Yorkshire, Durham, and of at least 

 some parts of Scotland. Its pinnules are nearly enthe, truncate ol* perhaps 

 truncately obtuse and slightly toothed at the apex : the palese are reddish 

 browTi, and the fronds, especially in a young state, of a yeUowish green. At 

 the High Force, in Upper Teesdale, on both sides of the river ; near St. 

 John's Chapel, Weardale, Durham ; at the Bilberry Reservoir, Holm 

 Moss, (where it attains a height of four feet) ; near Huddersfield, York- 

 shhe ; in glens of the Clova mountains, particularly the ravine of White 

 Water, which is at the head of Glen Dole ; 1 have especially noticed this 

 plant growing in many of these localities along with the common variety.'' 

 — (See Phytol. iv. 715). In Wales it is far from uncommon : I was espe- 

 cially struck by its extraordinary beauty at Hafod, the seat of the Duke of 

 Newcastle, in Cardiganshire, where I was assured it was planted on the 

 slopes by the late Colonel Johnes, the friend of Sir J. E. Smith, and the 

 builder of the mansion. Nothing can exceed the taste displayed by that 

 gentleman in converting naked and unpicturesque hills into scenery as 



