56 
ASPLENIUM SEPTENTRIONALE. 
has been found only in the extreme northern and western 
districts of England, partially in Scotland, and not at all 
in Ireland, yet wherever it does occur, there it is pretty 
abundant. 
It occurs in clefts of rocks, on mountains, and on old 
walls, and has been found at Craig Ehu, and Carnedd 
Llewelyn, and Snowdon, in Wales; on Ingleborough, in 
Yorkshire; at Patterdale and Keswick, and above Am- 
beside, in Westmoreland ; on rocks in Edinburgh Park; 
on Stenton Rock, near Dunkeld; and on rocks on the 
southern side of Blackford Hill, near Edinburgh. 
It is not uncommon throughout Europe, but is espe¬ 
cially frequent in Germany and Switzerland. 
Gerardo is the earliest of our botanists who notices 
this Fern, and ho mistook it for a Moss, calling it “Muscus 
corniculatus, Homed or Knaggod Moss.” The drawing 
he published of it, however, shows that it is the same as 
our Forked Spleenwort. Parkinson recognises it as a 
Fern, and describes it as the Naked Stone Fern (Filix 
saxatilis Tragi). Ray writes of it under the same Latin 
name, but also calls it Horned or Forked Maidenhair. 
It may be cultivated as we have directed for the 
Asplenium ruta-muraria; but Mr. Charles Johnson is 
quite right in stating that “it is less adapted for expo¬ 
sure in the open Fernery, at least in the eastern parts of 
England, the evergreen fronds being liable to suffer 
from frost, and especially during the dry, piercing winds 
of Spring. It will, however, live and flourish when 
planted in a sheltered cavity better than under confine¬ 
ment. I? potted, a cold, close frame, where it may be 
