120 
POLYPODIACE^. 
Mr. Templeton on Slieve Bignian (2449 feet), and on rough 
ground two miles south of Slieve Croob ; Mr. Thompson gather- 
ed it on the Black mountain above Tolly more park, in 1836. 
Kerry. — Dr. Taylor has found it in the marshes near Mr. 
Herbert’s house at Mucruss ; and Mr. Moore between Killarney 
and Kenmare, 
Londonderry. — Found in Ness glen by the late Mr. Templeton. 
Louth, — Mr. Thompson gathered specimens on Carlingford 
mountain in 1836 ; it appears, from the MS. notes of the late 
Mr. Templeton, that it was first found in this locality by Dr. 
Robert Brown. 
Wicklow. — Mr. Mackay has found it at Powerscourt water- 
fall ; several botanists have recorded this habitat, which seems 
the most abundant one in the island. 
The geographical range of this species is not well ascertained: 
it is included in every European list, and might be expected to 
grow in the corresponding latitudes of Asia, but I am not aware 
of its having been recorded as an inhabitant of that continent, 
or of Africa. The North- American Polypodium connectile^ for 
specimens of which I am indebted to Mr. Boott and Mr. Lea, 
is so similar that I can scarcely assent to the opinion of that 
plant being distinct as a species. 
The figures of this fern do not appear to me so satisfactory as 
its marked character seems to require, for it is not only a most 
graceful, but a peculiarly well-marked fern ; its long naked stem, 
triangular form, marginal clusters of capsules, and the unusual 
position and complete separation of its lowest pair of pinnae, 
are very strRing diagnostics. In ‘ English Botany ’ it seems to 
have been figured twice, first under the name of Aspidium The- 
lypteris^- and subsequently as Polypodium PhegopterisA In 
Bolton’s ‘ Filices’ % the figure is far from characteristic, and Mr. 
Francis § seems to have figured an extra-European fern in its 
stead ; as the European species never has the pinnae so com- 
pletely divided as he has represented them. 
The English name of Beech Fern, derived from the specific 
^ Eng. Bot. 1018. t Itk 2224. + Bolt. Fil. tab. 20. 
§ Analysis, pi. i. fig. 3. 
