ASPLENIUM MARIE UM. 
45 
even, of a pale brown, and opens towards the mid-rib 
of each leaflet. The surface of each capsule of the fructi¬ 
fication is curiously netted, and of a chestnut colour. 
This has been known as one of our native Ferns as 
long since as the time of Gerarde, 1597; at least so we 
conclude, from his saying that it “ groweth under 
shadowy rocks, and craggy mountains in most places.” 
This, however, is giving it too wide a range, and his 
editor, Johnson, in 1633, confines himself to saying, , 
“ It grows in the chinks of the rocks by the sea-side in 
Cornwall.” Ray found it “ on the rocks about Prest- 
holm Island, near Beaumaris, and at Llandwyn, in the 
Isle of Anglesea; about the Castle of Hastings, in 
Sussex, and elsewhere on the rocks of the southern 
coast.” It has also been found on Marsden Rocks, 
Durham, Isle of Man; Black Rocks on the Cheshire 
side of the Mersoy; near the Dingle, Liverpool; Hulme 
Stone Quarry, near Warrington; west coast of Cornwall; 
Ormeshead, near Bangor; Nigg, in Ross-sliire, near 
Port Patrick, Wigtonshire; Moray, Isle of Stafla; 
Fifesliire, Aberdeenshire, and Berwickshire. In Ireland 
it has been found on the Sutton side of Houth Moun¬ 
tain, Underwood Killiney Hill, and other places near 
Derrinano, in Kerry; and frequently on the western 
and southern coasts. It has beon gathered on the rocks 
under the Powder House, Shireliampton, near Bristol, 
where the water is brackish, but Mr. Swete observes 
that “ this can hardly be considered a natural station 
°f this Fern, it being seldom found higher up the 
Bristol Channel than Clevedon." 
