NOTOLEPEUM CETEHACH. 279 



The scaly spleenwort is found in all the middle and southern 

 countries of Europe, btit I believe it has not yet been observed 

 in Lapland, Norway, Sweden, or the North of Eussia, but it oc- 

 curs in the South of Russia, both European and Asiatic : it is 

 common in the North of Africa, and in the Canary and Cape 

 de Verde Islands. In Madeira and Teneriffe there is a plant of 

 much larger size than ours, and of more beautiful appearance : 

 I cannot take upon myself to say whether the two forms are 

 identical as species. 



It is very generally scattered over the northern, western, and 

 southern counties of England and Wales : in the midland coun- 

 ties it is of rare occurrence, and in the eastern scarcely known. 

 In a few instances, more particularly in limestone districts, it 

 is found growing freely on rocks, and in what may be consi- 

 dered truly natural situations ; but its usual nidus is the mortar 

 of ruins, churches, and walls, erected by man, and therefore not 

 strictly natural : for when we provide a proper dwelling-place 

 for plants or animals, whether intentionally or unintentionally, 

 it always partakes more or less of an artificial character. A 

 singular and quite abnormal nidus for this fern is recorded by 

 Mr. W. R. Smith in the ' Phytologist : ' this gentleman found it 

 growing in company mth other ferns, on an old tree overhang- 

 ing a deep chalk lane at Pitt, near Winchester : (see Phytol. iv. 

 276). The English counties in which Ceterach is most abun- 

 dant are Westmoreland, Gloucester, and Somerset. The list 

 of localities which I have received through the kindness of cor- 

 respondents, exceeds the space that I could afford them, ex- 

 tending to more than ten pages : I have therefore concluded to 

 reserve them for use on a future occasion. 



In Scotland, this is a fern of great rarity. Mr. Gourlie 

 informs me that it has been found sparingly at Kilfinnan, in 

 Argyleshire ; that gentleman has himself found it on Kinnoul 

 HiU, in Perthshire, a locality previously recorded by Lightfoot 

 in his- ' Flora Scotica ; ' and Mr. Gourlie also states that Dr. A. 

 K. Young has observed it near Paisley, in Renfrewshire. My 

 kind correspondent, Mr. W. G. Jolinstone, informs me there 

 are three stations for this fern in Dumfriesshire. 



