( Proceedings Belfast Naturalists * Field Club. — Appendix 1885-86.) 
of ^CLsfer. 
By William H. Phillips and Robert Lloyd Praeger, 
B.E., B.A. 
submitting the following list of the species and varieties of our 
local Ferns to the members of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club, 
we cannot but regret the absence in our district of other observers 
in this branch of natural science. The study of the varieties of British Ferns 
is most interesting and fascinating — being half botany, half horticulture, since 
the finds must be grown in order to be understood and correctly named— and 
is one which can be carried on with very little trouble or expense. Yet, 
beyond our own finds, we have been able only to come across a very few 
stray records. Thus, the counties of Armagh, Donegal, and Cavan are 
hardly represented at all in our localities for varieties, while the names of 
Antrim and Down occur in almost every line— those being the counties to 
which we most easily had access. This, however, only proves the richness 
of our district in varieties. Ferns there are, if only some one will find them. 
There is still a great field of discovery among our North of Ireland Filices. 
Already Ulster has yielded some splendid new varieties — among which we 
may mention Athyrium Filix-fcemina crispum and Folystichum angulare 
divisilobum Crawfordia ; and many other treasures lie hidden away in our 
glens and copses only waiting to be found. At some future time we hope to 
bring out a supplement to this list, and we trust that then we shall have 
other names to record as finders of some of these beautiful varieties. The 
labour is small and the reward great. Nothing is more pleasant than to 
watch some wild find developing, under one’s care, into an elegant decom- 
posite or crested form. Again, a great advantage of Fern-hunting, as com- 
pared with most out-door scientific persuits, is that it can be carried on 
equally at every season of the year. For botany or entomology, for instance, 
there is but a short summer season ; but not so among the Ferns ; for while 
