CRYPTOGAMI A . FILICES. Pteris, 
983 
near Liverpool. Dr. Bostock. In Moreton Moors, three miles from 
Blymhill, Shropshire. Rev. S. Dickenson. Near Wareham, by Sandford 
Bridge; near New Bridge, between Wimborne and Ringwood. Pulte- 
ney. By Llyn TrafFwll, in the turbary at Trewilmot, Holyhead. Welsh 
Bot. By Loch Tay, Loch Fyne, and Derwentwater Lake. Mr. Winch. 
Bog near Coleshill pool. Bree, in Purt. Near Parker’s mill, between Stone- 
bridge and Bradnock’s Marsh, Warwickshire. Smith, in Perry. Leith Hill 
Common, Surry ; and covering half an acre, near Danbury, Essex. Mr. W. 
Christy. Goonhilly Downs, Cornwall. Rev. J. Pike Jones. About the cliffs 
near Dawlish, and other parts of Devon. Abounds on the rocks and in the 
woods near the Falls of Clyde, Lanarkshire. Moist hedges. New Forest, 
Hants. This plant, though before not to be found for many miles around 
Birmingham, in the year 1802, appeared on an archery butt on Moseley 
Common, artificially raised with mud from a deep pit, in which the seeds 
had probably lain for a length of time. It continued to flourish so long 
as the butt was permitted to remain, but has probably now again disap¬ 
peared. By such accidental circumstances may we often account for 
many apparent errors in the stations of plants. See also Datura Stramo¬ 
nium. vol. ii. p. 315. E.) July—Aug.* 
PTE/RlS.f Capsules disposed in a line under the reflexed edge 
of the leaf. 
P. cris'fa. Leaves more than doubly compound: leafits alternate, 
roundish, cut. 
Bolt. 7 — (E. Bot. 1160. E.)— FI. Dan. 496— H. Ox. xiv. 4. 4 and 2T— 
Pluk. 3. 2 and 3— J. B. iii. 743— H. Ox. xiv. 5. 25. 
Leaf-stalks waved, green. Fructifications in lines along the under margin 
of the leafits, which is rolled back upon them, as in P. aqualina ,* after 
the discharge of the seeds increasihg in breadth so as to cover the whole 
disk, except the mid-rib. Bolt. Leaf-stalks from two to seven inches 
long. Leaf from one inch and a half to three inches long. Leafits of the 
barren leaves wedge-shaped and snipt at the edge; those of the fertile 
leaves much narrower, strap or strap-spear-shaped, and entire. Capsules 
surrounded with an elastic ring; of which Osmunda and Ophioglossum 
are destitute. 
* (This te flower-crowned Prince of English Ferns ” is available for rock-work, espe¬ 
cially if removed with a portion of bog-earth ; and can scarcely fail to appear ornamental 
in any suitable situation. The preservation of the vital principle in seeds, (which in 
some species would appear to increase with continued preservation, as in those of melon,) 
is one of those natural phenomena which are little regarded, because familiar to the most 
casual observer. But that some should lose their vegetative power by being kept out of 
the ground even for a short time after ripening, while others may he sent round the world, 
and exposed to every vicissitude of climate, or even be buried for ages in the earth, and 
yet vegetate with the first favourable opportunity, is truly surprising, and the cause past 
man’s finding out. E.) 
Impressions of the leaves are frequent in the nodules of iron stone found in Coal- 
brook Dale, Salop. It is the only species of an indigenous vegetable which I have ever dis¬ 
covered in a fossil state. But it is a native of Virginia also. St. All the other impressions 
of Filices, which I have seen on iron stone seem to be those of American plants. The 
root boiled in water becomes mucilaginous, and is used in the north of Europe to stiffen 
linen instead of starch. 
*|- (The 7rlepis of the ancient Greeks appears to have been some kind of Fern, so 
denominated on account of its wing-like figures; but further we know not. E.) 
