CYSTOrTERIS ALl'IN'.V. 
39 
about one-thivd of its whole length ; and is smooth 
except at the hase, where a few brown pointed scales 
occur. 
The /notification is near the edge of the lohe. and 
consists of very copious masses of little bladders, small, 
scattered, not crowded at any time, and pale brownish 
coloured. Whilst in a young state each mass is wrapped 
in a white, membranous, concave cover, ending in a 
tapering jagged point; thus nearly resembling Cystopteris 
fragilis, but tbe fructification is in smaller masses than 
those of that species, nor are the spores ever black as in 
that species, but are pale brown. 
This is a Fern very rarely found in Great Britain; so 
rarely, indeed, that many Botanists have doubted, we 
think on insufficient grounds, its title to a place among 
our native plants. 
Mr. Lhwyd first discovered it on Snowdon, as an¬ 
nounced in the second edition of Ray's Synopsis, in 
1S00 ; Mr. Griffiths found it on Cwm Idwell in Wales; 
Mr. W. Christy fouud it on rocks at the dropping well 
of Knaresborough; Hooker states, on the authority of 
Mr. Maughan, that it was found on Ben Lawers in 
Scotland; Mr. Shepherd, of Liverpool, sent specimens 
to Mr. Moore, which specimens, he stated, were “ gathered 
'n Derbyshire and Yorkshire, but without assigning 
more particular habitats.” Mr. Foster found it at Low 
Layton in Essex, and announced his discovery iu 
Symon’s Synopsis, some time in the year 1798. It has 
been found at the same place by Mr. W. Pamplin in 
1835, and by Mr. E. H. Bolton in 1810. 
