Christy : Ferns of the Neighbourhood of York. 183 



PohjpGdium vulgare.—^d^t rarer than in most districts. It grows at 

 Escrick and several places in the Stockton, Strensall, and Wiggington 

 direction. At Castle Howard it grows on trees as in the south of 

 England. A bifid variety is pretty common. Probably no British 

 fern is so given to be bifid, both in the midrib and pinnae, as this. 

 The var. auritum occurs near Turker*s Wood (B.B.L.T.), and abun- 

 dantly where the railway crosses the Haxby and Stockton Lane* It 

 has a small projecting lobe just above each pinnae. 



Poly podium Vkegopteris, — Mr, Baker says, " in the central vale on 

 Buttercrambe Moor." It is said that this species grew twenty years 

 ago in the Long Lane, at Langwith, but has not been seen since, and 

 it is therefore very interesting to learn (" Natural History Journal," 

 vol. vi., p. 181), that last September, one plant of beech fern was, for 

 the first time, found at Askham Bog by Geo. Bobley and Saml. Lee, 

 of the York Industrial School. The fronds it bore were seven inches 

 long, and were fully identified by Mr. Clark. 



Polypodium Bryopteris. — Castle Howard (H. Ibbotson). 



Osmimda r eg alls. — Mr. Baker says, " swampy woods in the low 

 country, rare." Langwith Woods and Askham Bogs are our only 

 localities. At the former place it used to be common, but now — - 

 probably because the roots are taken away — it is. quite rare there, and 

 I have only seen three or four plants ; but, about two years since, my 

 brother saw a great number of seedlings springing up in one spot. At 

 Askham Bog it still abounds in the Big Wood, and there are a few 

 'plants in other parts. Seedlings differ considerably from the mature 

 fronds, which I have seen growing near 8ft. high at Askham. The 

 young fronds come up early in May, and I have noticed that v/here 

 two or three come up together there is often a quantity of a soft 

 gummy substance present. The fronds are cut by the earliest frosts 

 of winter. The fructification appears about the middle of September, 

 but on October 6th I once saw a frond bearing it still green, and on 

 the 1st of September, 1877, I found an apparently seeding frond 

 bearing green fructification. The whole plant often grows to such a 

 size that I believe some would nearly fill a cart. The pinnee are 

 sometimes bifurcated. 



OpJiioglossum vulgatim.. — Common ; Hobmoor, Clifton Ings, Bishop- 

 thorpe, and Monk Stray. Also fine and plentiful in meadows near 

 Stockton Wood. 



BoirycJiinm hmarm. — Mr. Baker says, " area general ; frequent in 

 grassy places and on heaths." In our district it is rare, and I have 



