68 
EQUISETACE^. 
Scotland and Wales, and Mr. Mackay observes that it is frequent 
in Ireland. It is apparently common on the continent of Eu- 
rope, but does not reach the extreme north, not being mentioned 
by Linneus or Wahlenberg as inhabiting Lapland or Sweden. 
Although so common a plant, much difference of opinion ap- 
pears to prevail respecting the degree of moisture required for 
its nutriment. Smith very decidedly says, “ watery places by 
the sides of rivers and lakes ; ” Withering “ marshy and watery 
places, sides of rivers, ditches, pools and lakes ; ” and Mackay, 
in the ‘Flora Hibernica,’ “muddy lakes, sides of rivers and 
pools, frequent.” When lately proposing, in ‘ The Phytologist,’ 
the change of name for this plant which I have now adopted, I 
expressed an opinion that its choice of habitat by no means fa- 
vored the name Jluviatile, previously applied to it, since it was 
generally found in “ loose gravelly and sandy places, uncon- 
nected with water.” When this was written I was not aware of 
a passage in Mr. Francis’s ‘ Analysis of British Ferns,’ to which 
Mr. Gibson has since called the attention of botanists, and which 
bears directly on the point under consideration ; it is as follows. 
“ The name Jiuviatile is not so applicable to this species as it 
would have been to some others ; it is rarely found on the banks 
of rivers or ponds, nor do I remember ever having seen it grow- 
ing in the water. It rather affects strong, loamy, damp ground, 
clayey banks and swampy bogs.”* Mr. H. C. Watson, in a suc- 
ceeding number of ‘ The Phytologist,’ f objects to my view of 
the subject, and observes, “ The finest examples that I have met 
with were in the counties of Chester and Lancaster, growing on 
the red marl by the sides of streams, or in water with a deep 
muddy bottom : indeed it is a notion among the rustics of Che- 
shire, that horses get ‘ bogged ’ by their endeavours to graze on 
this plant in the muddy pools of that county ; and I have cer- 
tainly seen a horse almost over-head in mud in a small pond 
filled with the tall ‘ horse-tails,’ which is the name given more 
particularly to the barren fronds of the present species.” Mr. 
Watson’s remarks elicited several replies. Mr. Gibson’s was 
the first of these : he states, “ Water or mud is not essential to 
* All Analysis of British Ferns, &c. p. 76. 
f Phytologist, 588, 
