140 
POLYPODIACEiE. 
the lowest pinnae to the apex. The church has been pulled 
down and rebuilt within the last few years. — Silvanus Thomp- 
sons''^ I have not seen this specimen, and therefore entertain a 
doubt whether it belong to this species or the next. 
The figures of this fern in Bolton’s ‘ Filices,’f ‘ English Bo- 
tany,’! and Mr. Francis’s ^ Analysis,’^ give but a very imperfect 
idea of the plant; the latter is particularly unlike. Of the 
continental figures I entertain so much doubt as to their repre- 
senting our British plant, that I forbear quoting them. The 
doubt, of course, is equally applicable to nomenclature, and I 
name the species as Woodsia Ilvensis of our British authors, 
without attempting to prove it the Acrostichum Ilvense of Lin- 
neus. I have no doubt, as before stated, that it is the Filix al- 
pina^ Pedicularis rubroi foliis subtus villosis of Bay, although 
this description is referred by Sir J. E. Smith to the plant I have 
next described. I am extremely gratified to find that Mr. Wil- 
son entertains a similar opinion. In a letter just received, Mr. 
Wilson says, “ I cannot help thinking that the synonym in Ray’s 
‘ Synopsis,’ usually applied to the other species, belongs to this 
fern, notwithstanding that in the locality pointed out by Ray, on 
Snowdon, I find only W. hyperborea^ which I have never seen 
there ^foliis sex circiter digitis longis^ and which less resem- 
bles Pedicularis S'' Ray’s description appears to me to lay stress 
on all the points in which the present plant chiefly differs from 
the next. There can be scarcely a doubt that the plant now 
under consideration is the Polypodium arvonicum of Withering, 
whose description — ‘‘ Leafits spear-shaped, wing-cleft, hairy un- 
derneath ; stem hairy” || — is peculiarly apt. I am indebted to the 
kindness of Dr. Robert Brown, for specimens gathered by him- 
self in the north of Europe, of the true Acrosiichum Ilvense of 
Linneus, and these, while agreeing exactly with the authentic 
Linnean specimen in the herbarium of the Linnean Society, 
differ so much from the British plant that I hesitate to pronounce 
them identical. Should the British plant prove distinct, I beg to 
propose it should bear the name of Woodsia Raiana. The doubt 
* Pkytologist, 331. f Bolt. Fil. tab. 9. J Eng. Bot. Supp. 2616. 
§ Analysis, pi. i. fig. 6 A. || Arr. Brit. PI. iii. 774. 
