THE ALPINE POLYPODY. 81 
Filix-femina made me feel very uncertain whether they could be 
properly referred to Polypodiwm, until Mr. Newman, to whom the 
Canlochen frond was at length shown when again recollected, decided 
it to be P. alpestre.” It seems widely dispersed throughout the 
Highlands, and may even occur further southward, on the high _ 
mountains of Wales and the North of England. On the hill sides 
in exposed places, the fronds are very commonly damaged either 
by winds, spring frosts, or by animals, and it is only in the more 
sheltered localities that perfect specimens can be obtained. The 
` recorded habitats for this species are the following :一 
E. Highlands.—Perthshire: Killin; Ben Lawers. Forfarshire : 
Glen Fiadh, Glen Prosen, Glen Dole, Canlochen, Glen Isla, and 
other glens of the Clova Mountains, J. Backhouse, G. Lawson. 
Aberdeenshire: Braemar; by the streams on Ben-Aven, Ben- _ 
na-Bourd, Ben-Mac-d’hui, and by the lake which forms the source 
of the Dee, A. Croall; Glen Callater; Cairntoul ; Loch-na-gar. 
In all the Corries of the Dee-side mountains, and those of the 
neighbouring districts, often mixed with Athyrium Filic-femina at 
an elevation of from 2000 to 3000 feet; from 3000 to 4000 feet 
Filie-femina had ceased, while P. alpestre was plentiful; in damp 
gorges and among tumbled rocks, often destitute of fructification, 
but in exposed places abundantly fructified, J. Backhouse. Abundant 
“in the mountains of Aberdeen, Forfar, and Perth, at from 2000 to 
4000 feet elevation, G. Lawson. Mountains near Dalwhinnie, east 
side of Inverness-shire, 1841, H. C. Watson. 
W. Highlands.—Great Corrie of Ben Aulder, west side of Inver- 
ness-shire, 1841, H. C. Watson. 
N. Highlands.—Sutherlandshire : Ben Hope. 
In Europe this plant is met with in alpine and subalpine situa- 
tions in Norway, Sweden, and Lapland; in Russia, in Livonia on 
the west and the Ural mountains on the east; in Scotland, and 
in France and Belgium; in the Alps of Switzerland, in Germany, 
and in Spain. Meyer found it in the Caucasus. A scarcely dis- 
tinguishable plant, perhaps identical, was collected by Barclay at 
Sitka, in North-West America, as appears from specimens in Sir 
W. J. Hooker’s herbarium. 
VOL. I. G 

