14 
European Ferns. 
spring of Elm Cragg Well, in Bell Bank, scarce half a mile from Bingley. In this place 
I saw it in plenty in the year 1758: afterwards, some alterations being made about the well, 
for the convenience of the proprietor, the cavern was destroyed, the plant perished, and was 
lost to Great Britain till the year 1782, at which time being engaged in this work, and 
passionately desirous to see the plant again in its growing state, after several researches in 
Bell Bank, I found a root under a dripping rock, to the left side of the current, and about 
fifteen yards above the cistern. From this root I have sent specimens to one or two of my 
friends, and have in my possession the best of them, from which this figure and description 
were taken.” In the same year (1782) the Trichomanes was found at Bell Bank by Mr. 
Teesdale;* since which time it does not appear to have been observed there, although 
there is a specimen in the British Museum which is said to have been collected in Yorkshire 
in 1871. In 1867, the Trichomanes was found by Mr. Everard im Thurm, on a rock over- 
hanging the water about a quarter of a mile below the fall at St. Knighton’s Kieve, on the 
northern coast of Cornwall, about two miles from Tintagel Castle, and the same distance 
from Boscastle ; only one patch was seen, and the fronds were of small size, not much over 
two inches in height. The possibility of its introduction to this locality is suggested ; and 
the same suspicion attaches to the Rydal district of Westmoreland, where it was found on 
wet rocks in one of the fells by Mr. Walter Crouch about 1863. About this period it was 
recorded from the Snowdon district of Caernarvonshire, where it was found by two or three 
botanists, who prudently abstained from describing the exact spot. It has been stated that 
the fern was introduced into this district from Ireland by a Snowdon guide ; but there seems 
no doubt whatever that it had been known to occur there about thirty years before this 
date, in two distinct localities, and that the original discoverers of it, who carefully concealed 
their knowledge, were satisfied as to its genuine nativity. The Killarney Fern was also found 
in the Isle of Arran by a local fern-collector ; and it has been recorded, but apparently in 
error, from Derbyshire and Caermarthenshire. 
Although generally known as the Killarney Fern, the Trichomanes extends through a 
considerable portion of the south and south-west of Ireland, occurring on wet shady rocks in 
several localities in Kerry and Cork, as well as in the counties of Waterford, Limerick, 
Wicklow, and Tipperary : it was discovered at the Turk Waterfall, Killarney, in October, 
1805, by Mr. J. T. Mackay ; but in this locality it is almost, if not quite, extinct. The 
natives of the Killarney district are in the habit of offering to tourists specimens of Hymeno- 
phyllum VTilsoni as the “ Killarney Fern and the superficial resemblance is sufficient to 
mislead those who are not acquainted with the true plant. It ranges in elevation from the 
sea-level to about 1,000 feet on Carrigeena, on the northern border of county Cork. Its 
distribution on the continent of Europe is extremely limited ; indeed, it is only known to occur 
in the shady woods of Gallecia, in Spain : Willkomm and Lange indicate it as found also in 
Portugal, but we find no other reference to it as occurring there. Its strongly “Atlantic” type 
is shown in this distribution, and by its occurrence in the Azores, Madeira, and Teneriffe. 
But if we take the somewhat broad view of the species adopted in the “ Synopsis Filicum,” we 
find it has a further very wide distribution : in Africa it is recorded from Angola and Fernando 
Po, as well as from Johanna Island; in Asia it occurs in the Himalayas, Japan, and Polynesia; 
and in tropical America it extends from Alabama, Mexico, and the West Indian Islands south- 
ward to Rio Janeiro. 
The plant is more correctly called T. speciosnm, Willd. It has also been named T. alahnn, 
* See “Transactions of the Linnean Society,” v. 75. 
