THE COTTAGE GARDENER ANH COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, November 25, i860. 123 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
I 
D 
m 
D 
W 
NOV. 25—DEC. 1, 1856. 
Weather ni 
Barometer. 
sar London in 
Thermo.| Wind. 
1 
1855. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.& S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bf. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
25 
Tu 
Redwing arrives. 
30.277—30.043 
43—18 
N.F.. 
00 
38 a. 7 
5/ a. 3 
5 19 
28 
12 
42 
330 
26 
W 
Grey Wagtail arrives. 
30.2S9—30.241 
42—36 
N.E. 
00 
39 
56 
6 33 
29 
12 
23 
331 
27 
T 11 
The drab day Moth. 
30.035-29.983 
47—42 
N.E. 
Ol 
41 
55 
set3. 
© 
12 
3 
332 
28 
F 
The common flat body Moth, 
30.112—30.019 
47—36 
N.E. 
01 
42 
55 
3 a 49 
1 
11 
42 
333 
29 
s 
Song Thrush sings again. 
30.111—30.045 
45—33 
N. 
00 
44 
54 
4 34 
2 
11 
21 
334 
30 
Sun 
Advent Sunday. St. Andrew. 
30.078-29-980 
45—26 
W. 
00 
45 
53 
5 37 
3 
10 
59 
335 
I 
M 
Carabus morbillosus. 
30.072—29.887 
46—33 
N.W. 
03 
VII 
III 
6 a 52 
4 
10 
36 
336 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 4/.5°, and 32.1°, respectively. The greatest heat, 60°, occurred on the 28th, in 1848 ; and thi lowest cold, l6°, 
on the 29 th, in 1846. During the period 95 days were fine, and on 101 rain fell. 
OSMU'NDA REGA’LIS. 
This very stately Fern has never been called by modern 
botanists otherwise than by the above names; and its 
usual English names bear the same import, for it has 
been called The Royal Fern, Osmund Royal, Royal 
Moomoort, and Royal Brackens. Early writers, how¬ 
ever, have called it by names less dignified, for we find 
it mentioned as Flowering Fern, Osmund the Waterman, 
Water Fern, and Saint Christopher's Herb. 
Its root is tuberous, woody, scaly, sometimes extend¬ 
ing horizontally, but at others rising erect as much 
even as two feet out of the ground, and at all times 
furnished with numerous, strong, fibrous rootlets. The 
fronds rise from the crown of the root. The fertile 
fronds are usually two or>three feet high, and few in 
number; but the barren fronds are more numerous, 
and often attain to more than six feet; and Mr. S. 
Murray, on the hanks of the Clyde, measured one tuft 
that was eleven feet and a half in height. Their stem is 
smooth, and reddish when young; they are doubly 
leafleted, the primary divisions being opposite, and the 
secondary divisions mostly alternate. Leafits smooth, 
bright green, nearly stalkless, somewhat heart-shaped, or 
slightly lobed at the base oblong, bluntish, entirely or 
only slightly scolloped, but we have seen them slightly 
toothed; they have one mid-vein, and numerous lateral 
veins. In the fertile fronds the upper leafits are divided 
and changed, as it were, into dense clusters or spikes of 
capsules. The terminal divisions of the frond are com¬ 
posed entirely of such capsules, forming a compound, 
loose cluster or panicle. Each capsule is at first green, 
but becomes pale reddish-brown, veined, two-valved, 
and on a short stalk; the seeds ( spores ) are numerous, 
and nearly globular. 
It is not very common, and is found in wet bogs, 
woods, and hedges. 
In England it has been found at Low-gelt Bridge, 
Allowby, and Keswick, in Cumberland ; between Stone- 
bridge and Bradnock’s Marsh, near Parker’s Mill, in 
Warwickshire; at Ellesmere Lakes, Moreton Moors, 
and West Felton, in Shropshire; at Speke, between 
Crosby and Formby, and on Chat Moss, near Liver¬ 
pool; Walston Moss, near Warrington, in Lan¬ 
cashire ; in the Isle of Man; Chartley Moss, in 
Staffordshire; at Pottery Car, near Doncaster; near 
Leeds; near the upper mill at Bulwell, in Notting¬ 
hamshire; on bogs near Yarmouth, and St. Faith’s, 
Newton Bogs, Norwich; in Ivavanagh’s Wood, Great 
Warley, near the Barracks at Little Warley, and at 
Danbury, in Essex; near Leith Hill, and near Dorking, 
in Surrey; on Bagsbot Heath; between Frimley village 
and Frimley Green, and on Esher Common, in Surrey; 
at Tunbridge, in Kent; at the corner of the Lake, 
Uckfield, in Sussex ; on the cliffs near Dawlish, near 
Chudleigh, on the banks of the Teign, and at Ivy 
Bridge, on the Erme, in Devon; on the Goodhilly 
Downs, near St. Ives, and in the mouths of old mines 
near Marazion and Cosgarne, Cornwall; in the Isle 
of Wight; at Saudford Bridge, near Wareham, and at 
New Bridge, near Wimborne, in Dorset; in the New 
Forest, and at Freemantle, near Southampton. 
In Scotland, at the head of Loch Fine, to the north¬ 
east of Inverary, Argyleshire, and on the Dumbarton 
side, near Loch Lomond; at the side of the Loch 
at Incliuedamff, Sutherlandshire; in Aberdeenshire, 
and on the coast of Kincardineshire. 
No. CCCCXXVf. Von. XVII 
