144 
POLYPODTACEiE. 
authority Smith corrected the error of Ray and others, who 
described this precipice as facing the north-west : the locality, 
it will be observed, is that pointed out by Ray for the preceding 
species. 
Perthshire. — According to Smith and other authorities, Mr. 
Dickson, Mr. G. Don, and the Rev. Dr. Stuart, found this plant 
on Ben Lawers. Mr. Wilson informs me he found it on Ben 
Lawers, Mael-dun-Crosk, Craig-Challiach, and other mountains, 
in 1827, and again on Ben Lawers in 1836; and Mr. Watson 
gives me Craig-Challiach, on the authority of Mr. Maughan. 
On the continent of Europe it has been observed in Lapland, 
Sweden, Germany, Hungary, France and Spain. I am not aware 
of its occurrence in Asia or Africa, but in North America a 
closely approximate species has been found on the rocky moun- 
tains, which is, however, considered distinct by Dr. Robert 
Brown, who has described it under the name of Woodsia glabella. 
This little fern is excellently figured by Bolton,^ by Bauer 
(in illustration of Dr. Robert Brown’s paper in the Linnean 
Transactions), and by several continental authors. 
With regard to the specific name I have proposed a change, 
which may at first sight appear somewhat capricious, but which, 
when investigated, will I trust be found in accordance with the 
received principles of botanical nomenclature. The specific 
name of hyperhorea has been applied to this plant by Liljeblad, 
Swartz, Will denow. Brown, Wahlenberg, Smith, Hooker, and 
many other botanists ; indeed it seems so sanctioned by autho- 
rity, that it is not without great reluctance that I venture on the 
alteration which I will now attempt to justify. 
The first description that I can find of this fern is that in 
Bolton’s ‘Filices’ : it is under the name of Acrosticimm alpinum. 
“ The root of this little Acrostichum consists of a few black, 
hard branches, connected to a small head, and furnished with 
black, hard, capillary fibres. The rib of the first leaf, when full 
grown, is about three inches high, of a pale brownish-green co- 
* Bolt. Fil. tab. 42. The figure is so like my own that T thought it quite un- 
necessary to copy it, otherwise I should have done so with a view of confirming 
the specific name. 
