262 WEISS' SPLEENWOET. 



FiFESHiEE. — Sir W. J. liooker informs us, on the authority of Dr. 

 A. Dewar, that it occurs three miles from Dunfermline. 



Perthshiee. — I am indebted to Mr. Williamson, of the Royal Botanic 

 Garden, at Kew, for a specimen found in December, 184o, on Stenton 

 Rocks, near Dunkeld, in this county. The locality has previously been re- 

 corded, but the plant was supposed to have been extirpated for many years, 

 when I published the following note from Mr. G. Smyttau, of 0. C. Col- 

 lege, Cambridge : — " After reading your remarks on Asplenium germani- 

 cum, I have thought it might be interesting to you to know that I have a 

 specimen of this very rare plant, gathered on Stenton Rooks so lately as 

 last summer. After two hours' ohmbing on the bare rocks, in one of the 

 most burning days, I at last found the treasm-e in a fissm-e of the barest 

 part of the rook." — Phytol. ii. 975. 



RoxBUEGHSHiRE. — It appears to have been first noticed by Mr. Dick- 

 son, as recorded in the ' Linnean Transactions ' (ii. 890), on " rocks in 

 the South of Scotland." Smith adds, " some sunny rocks about two miles 

 from Kelso, on the Tweed," (Eng. Bot. 3258). I do not observe a British 

 specimen in the Smithian herbarium, although I quite understand Smith 

 as saying he received it from Dickson. 



NoBTHUMBEELAND. — Mr. G. R. Tate found this fern on Kyloe Crags, 

 in this county, in 1851 : the discovery is recorded in the ' Phytologist ' for 

 April, 1853. " These crags are chiefly composed of rudely columnar basalt, 

 resembling the trap I'ange of Salisbury Crags. Sandstone comes out from 

 beneath this, and at the western end forms a steep cliff. After botanizing 

 for a short time, I had the good fortune to find the Asplenium germanicum 

 growing sparingly upon the basalt. It is not a fern easily passed by : its 

 pale green fronds at once attracted my attention ; and a closer examination 

 readily enabled me to determine its species. The few specimens I observed 

 were remarkably luxuriant, so much so, indeed, that I counted upwards of 

 thu'ty fronds growing on a single root. There appeared to be no possibility 

 of the plants having been introduced. This Asplenium is most nearly al- 

 lied to A. Ruta-muraria, from which, and from other species of the genus, 

 it is distinguished by its alternately pinnate frond, naiTOw, wedge-shaped 

 pinnules, and entire involucre. Some regard Asplenium germanicum as 

 a variety of A. Ruta-muraria ; but, as the latter does not occur at Kyloe 

 Crags, or in their vicinity, the supposition is by no means probable. A. 

 septentrionale still exists, in considerable abundance, on the high and ex- 

 posed portions of the crag, as well as among the debris." — Phytol. iv. 909. 

 This fern is also mentioned by Dr. Johnstone, in his ' Terra Lindisfarnen- 

 sis,' (p. 249) ; and a reference is made to Trans. Berw. N. Club, iii. 102. 



CuMBEELAND. — The first record of the occurrence of Asplenium germa- 

 nicum in England, is by Mr. H. E. Smith, in a note addressed to myself, 

 and printed in the ' Phytologist ' for January, 1848. " Asplenium germa- 



