THE ALPINE POLYPODY 
2 7 I 
lofty mountain situated on the west side of Loch Erricht, in 
Inverness-shire. Subsequently a specimen was found at 
another spot in the neighbourhood of Loch Erricht, probably 
as Mr. Wilson suggested, on the hills between Ben Aulder 
and the north end of the lake, but he added that it might lie 
on the hills of Drumochter Forest, eastward of the lake, and 
in that case the station would be within Moray or Eastern 
Inverness. In 1814, Mr. Watson found a specimen in Can- 
loelien Glen in Forfarshire. But after this, and when the 
Fern came to be no longer confounded with the Lady Fern, 
it was found in vast quantities, being abundant in, amongst 
other places, Glen Canlochen, Glen Prosen, and Glen Fiadh, 
and in all the corries of the Deeside mountains, and the moun- 
tains of the neighbouring districts. It is somewhat curious 
to find from the statements made by its first discoverers, that 
up to an altitude of from two thousand to three thousand 
feet it was found growing in company with the Lady Fern. 
But that when the Lady Fern had reached its highest range 
at three thousand feet, and was no longer found, Polypodium 
alpestre still continued to be found up to an altitude of nearly 
four thousand feet, growing in vigorous abundance, and more 
vigorous in open and exposed situations than in damp and 
protected places. 
Culture. — The cultivation of this Fern presents no diffi- 
culties whatever. It will grow readily — in a mixture of peat 
and loam — -in the open rockery or in the Fern house. But 
it must be well drained. 
