THE SPLEEN WORTS. 
6 . 
THE ROOK SPLEEN WORT. 
Asplenium fontanum. 
Plate 7, Fig. 6. 
NE of the most rare of our rarer species 
of British Ferns is the Rock Spleen- 
wort ; so rare, indeed, that some doubts 
as to its actual identity with the supposed speci- 
mens of it dis cowered in these islands have been 
raised. But these doubts will probably be dis- 
pelled by the evidence which has been produced, 
as to the discovery of this species — evidence 
making it pretty clear that its inclusion amongst 
British plants can be justified. In two or three 
places in England, in one locality in Wales, in 
one in Scotland, and in one in Ireland, Asplenium 
fontanum has — according to tolerably trustworthy 
authority — been found. It grows amidst sheltered 
inland rocks and in sea caves, and possibly may 
not be so rare as is generally supposed, though 
certainly, if it be more plentiful than Fern collec- 
38i 
