on British Ferns. 
XXlll 
Rhizoma tufted ; stipes very short, cliaffy ; frond semi- 
erect, lanceolate, much attenuated at the base, pinnate ; 
pinnae pinnatifid, divisions rounded, lower pinnae very 
short, deltoid, obtuse ; veins and capsules as in the pre- 
ceding ; involucre sometimes quite obvious. 
Mountains and moist woods, frequent. 
Obs . — Each species is the type of a group of species, and might be 
regarded as a genus, but the intervention of H. Novaboracense tends 
very much to unite them. 
Genus. — Gymnocarpium, Newman. 
Ultimate divisions of the frond with branched lateral 
veins free at the extremity, bearing clusters of capsules on 
all the branches : involucre none. In the British species 
the plant extends by means of a rapidly extending, slender, 
subterranean, stolon-like rhizoma. 
Gymnocarpium Phegopteris. 
Polypodium Phegopteris, Linn. Sp. PI. 1550 ; Light/. FI. 
Scot. 669 ; Huds. FI. Ang. 456 ; With. Arr. 775 ; Sm. 
E. F. iv. 282, E. B. 2224; Mack. FI. Hib. 337; Newm. 
F. 115; Hook, and Am. 566. 
Polipodium Phegopteris, Bolt. Fil. Brit. 36, t. 20. 
Aspidium Thelypteris, Sm. E. B. 1018. 
Lastrea Phegopteris, Newm. N. A. 17, F. 13. 
Polypodium ? Phegopteris, Bab. 408. 
Gymnocarpium Phegopteris, Newm. Phytol. iv. 371. 
Polystichum Phegopteris, Both, Flor. Germ. iii. 72. 
Rhizoma creeping ; stipes long ; frond ovate-deltoid, 
pinnate, drooping; first pair of pinme distinct, turned back, 
the rest united at the base, pointing forwards, all pinnati- 
fid ; veins, capsules and involucres as in the preceding ; 
colour dull green ; stem concolorous, rather scaly. 
By mountain rills and waterfalls, and in wet woods : 
common in Scotland, North of England, and Wales; rare 
in Ireland. 
