48 
FERNS. 
[ Aspleniurn . 
not constitute'a variety, more especially as not more than two or three branched 
fronds are found upon a plant, all the rest being of the common character and 
appearance. 
Sit. — Eng. : On rocks, not farther south than Yorkshire, or perhaps Derby- 
shire. On rocks in Northumberland, Mr. Winch. Mazebeck Scars, Westmorel., 
and Gordale, Yorkshire, Mr. R. Bowman. Near Halifax, Yorkshire, Mr. R. 
Leylands. Near Ais-la-Beek, and Richmond, Yorks., Mr. J. Ward. Settle, 
Mr. Charley. — Wales : Cader Idris, Mr. J. E. Bowman. Snowdon, Mr. C. C. 
Babinyton. Twll Du, Caern., Mr. T. II. Cooper. Not uncommon on the 
Welsh mountains, Mr. W. Wilson. — Scot. : Ross-shire, Rev. G. Gordon. Cawdor 
Woods, Nairns, Mr. W. Staples. Base of Benmore, Sutherlandsh., Dr. Johnston. 
Far too common in the Highlands to need the specifying of stations. Mr. H. C. 
Watson. — Ire.: Turk Mountain, Killarney, Ben Baulben, county of Sligo; and 
on the Donegal Mountains, near Lough Eske, Mr. MacJcay. 
Geo. — Germany, Holland, Switzerland, France; very rare, except on the moun- 
tains of Tyrol and Carinthia. 
7 . — ASPLENIUM FONTANUM. 
SMOOTH ROCK SPLEEN WORT. 
(Plate Y, fig. 1 .) 
Cha. — Frond bipinnate. Pinnae oblong, blunt, alternate. Pin- 
nules ■wedge-shaped, cleft, and toothed, llachis winged. 
Syn. — Aspleniurn fontanum, Hook., Smith, Bemh. — Aspidium fontanum, 
mild., Swz. ( not of Sch/er.) — Polypodium fontanum, Linn., Huds., Bolt., 
With. — Athyrium fontanum, Gray. 
Fig. — E. B. 2024. — Lob. Ic. 810, 1. — Bolt. 21 (bad). — Newm. p. 4. 
Des. — Root tufted, long, black. Frond lanceolate, bipinnate, 
evergreen, 2 to six inches high. Racliis -winged throughout. Pinnae 
alternate, ovate, oblong, those in the middle of the frond from a 
quarter to half an inch long, formed of six or eight pinnules placed 
alternately. Pinnules short, broadly wedge-shaped, petioled, so 
very deeply cleft at the sides and toothed at the apex as to become 
nearly pinnate. Seldom more than two sori upon each pinnule, 
which soon extend over the whole surface of it. 
Our present species most resembles Aspleniurn lanceolatum, the shape of the 
frond being nearly the same. The fontanum, however, is much more delicate, 
and smaller in all its parts, of a very dark green colour, its pinnules not half the 
size, and of a very different shape to those of the lanceolatum, besides which 
its winged racliis is of itself a sufficient diagnostic. It is very much more diffi- 
cult to distinguish it from Aspleniurn Ilallcri, a species that is very rare on the 
Continent, and for which our fontanum is very generally sold. 
Had. — Supposed to be now extinct in England: it was once found on Amcr- 
sliam Church, in Buckinghamshire, and at Wybourn, in Westmoreland. 1 have 
been informed that living plants were found at a waterfall in either Northumber- 
land or Westmoreland, fourteen or sixteen years ago, and also that it once grew 
on Alnwick Castle; but if so, it is no longer found there. 
Geo. — Saxony, Switzerland, South Europe, and Siberia. 
