September 11. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
421 
D 
M 
D 
W 
Weather near London in 1853. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. Si S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bf. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
SEPTEMBER 11—17, 1855. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
11 
Tu 
Coxcomb Prominent Moth. 
30.174—30.082 
73—31 
S.E. 
_ 
29 a 5 
24 a 6 
sets. 
© 
3 
19 
254 
12 
W 
Swallow Prominent Moth, 
30.016—29.901 
81—58 
S,E. 
03 
31 
22 
6 a 56 
1 
3 
40 
255 
13 
Th 
BuffTip Moth. 
29.912—29779 
72—58 
S.E. 
08 
33 
20 
7 6 
2 
4 
1 
256 
14 
F 
Chocolate Tip Moth. 
29 .814—29.682 
69—50 
S.W. 
28 
34 
17 
7 19 
3 
4 
22 
257 
15 
S 
Kitten Moth. 
29.915—29 903 
71—58 
S. 
02 
36 
15 
7 32 
4 
4 
43 
258 
16 
Son 
15 Sunday after Trinity. 
29.876—29.822 
71-62 
S.W. 
02 
37 
13 
7 49 
5 
5 
4 
259 
17 
M 
Lunar marbled Brown Moth. 
29.899—29.769 
74-49 
S.W; 
— 
1 39 
10 
8 12 
6 
5 
25 
260 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average highest and lowest tem- 
peratures of these days are 07.4°, and 40.3°, respectively. The greatest heat, 84°, occurred on the 12th, in 1841; 
on the 12th, in 1648. During the period 118 days were fine, and on 78 rain fell. 
and the 1 
owest cold, 31°, 
ASPLE'NIUM MARI'NUM. 
In English this is known now as the Sea Spleemvort, 
Sea Maidenhair, and Dwarf Sea Fern, but Gerarde, and 
others of our early herbalists, called it the Female Dwarf 
Stone Fern. 
Its main root is black, scaly, and tufted, furnished 
with many intricately interwoven rootlets. From the 
tuft arise the fronds , which vary in height from three 
to nine inches. About one-third of the lower part of 
each stalk is naked, and brownish-purple, crooked at the 
bottom, and from where the leaflets commence, up to 
the summit of the stalk, there is a narrow, thick wing, 
or border, on each side, joining the base of the leaflets 
to each other. The leaflets are dark green above, but 
paler underneath, leathery, more or less alternate, very 
short-stalked, very irregular in form, but where most 
regular somewhat of an egg-shajje, and almost always 
less than an inch in length, and mostly about half that 
length; often lobed on the upper edge at the broadest 
end, and the margin more or less toothed or cut 
throughout. They are nearly all of equal length, 
so that the outline of the frond is strap-like but 
pointed. The mid-vein of each leaflet is prominent, and 
«the side-veins are variously forked. Attached to the 
upper edge of these side veins is t\\Qfructification, which, 
following their direction, slants sideways but upwards. 
The fructification is on almost every side vein, and 
spreads, but is never confluent, or even crowded. The 
membrane, or cover of the fructification is uninterrupted, 
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 ohesnut-colour. 
This has been known as one of our native Ferns as 
long since as the time of Gerarde, 159T; at least so we 
conclude, from his saying that it “ groweth under 
shadowy rocks, and craggy mountains in most places.” 
This, howevex - , 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- 
lxolm 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 Mersey; 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 Stafl'a; 
Fifeshire, Aberdeenshire, and Ber wide shire. In Ireland 
it has been found on the Sutton side of Houtli Moun¬ 
tain, Underwood, Killiney Hill, and other places near; 
Derrinane, in Kerry; and frequently on the western 
and southern coasts. It has been 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 
of this Fern, it being seldom found higher up the 
Bristol Channel than Clevedon.” 
Ray, who, like many clergymen of his time, combined 
the study of Medicine with that of Divinity, is rather 
strong in the narration of the medicinal qualities of 
this Fern. He says—“ It is given in obstructions of 
the viscera, but especially of the spleen. Its gummy 
extract applied outwardly to burns has afforded relief 
when all other applications have failed.” ( Synopsis 
Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum. 119.) 
We know of no one who has succeeded in cultivating 
this Fern in the open air. Its roots cling so firmly to 
the sides of the chinks of the rocks where it grows 
naturally, that they are scarcely capable of being 
separated from the rocks undestroyed, and seemingly 
afford a warning that the soil and situation they prefer 
must be sedulously provided for them. 
No. CCCLXIII. Vol. XIV. 
