more local, and is, I believe, in the British dominions, confined to Ireland '. 
Killarney, county Kerry, near Tralee, Cork, and the island of Jersey : it ma^C 
therefore be considered a southern form. 
Besides being a very common Bern, this is certainly a very 
variable one, and it is no wonder that pseudo-botanists have 
made several species of it. Regarding its geographical distribu¬ 
tion I may quote the following from our ‘ Species Eilicum A—“ Of 
the vars. a (or normal state), ft, and y, they are found throughout 
Europe, in Greece and Northern Asia, Turkey, the shores and 
islands of the Mediterranean, North and South Africa, Madeira, 
the Canaries, Azores, Cape de Yerd Islands, St. Helena, Abys¬ 
sinia, Schimper, n. 669 and 1356. Northern India, Afghani¬ 
stan, Mussoorie (Bacon), Kashmire and Simla, Griffith, Edgworth , 
Hook fit. et Thomson ; Mascaren Islands, Bory; Java ?, Blume. 
In the New World Virginia is given on the authority of a speci¬ 
men in the Herbarium of the British Museum (Moore), but it 
is nowhere recorded in the Bloras of the United States (except 
where the A. montanum , Willd., has been mistaken for it, and 
Portorico, Herb. Willd., Moore). Var. 8 is found in Mouna Roa 
and other mountains in the Sandwich Islands, Gaudichaud, 
Douglas, n. 55, Brackenridge, elev. 8-10,000 feet. Extended 
as is the geographical distribution of this well-known species, I 
have never seen any specimens from either North or South 
America. These two localities test entirely on the authority of 
the Banksian and Willdenovian Herbaria: nor have I seen any 
specimens from Java or the Mascaren Islands. I cannot join 
Mettenius in wishing to record the numerous varieties and sub- 
varieties “ ab Henfler expositse.” Those I adopt from Moore 
satisfactorily embrace the forms found in England, including the 
narrow-segmented state of Bory’s A. acutum, and the broad 
variety denominated A. obtusum by Kitaibel. The broadest and 
most peculiar form is gathered by Mr. Milne on Table Moun¬ 
tain, at the Cape, in which country, indeed, the several Euro¬ 
pean forms are also found. 
Plate 33. Fertile plant of Asplenium Adiantmn-nigrum , L., —natural size. 
Pig. 1. Portion of var. acutum. 2. Portion of the obtuse form. 3. Fertile seg¬ 
ment more or less magnified. 
