THE ALPINE SHIELD FERN. 121 
The Holly Fern would appear to be extensively distributed over 
the great mountain regions of Europe, especially in the northern and 
central portions, occurring in Iceland and Lapland; in Sweden, 
Denmark, and Arctic Russia; in Great Britain and Ireland; in 
Germany, Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, and Transylvania; in 
France, Belgium, and Switzerland, extending to Italy and Spain, 
and southwards to Crete, and Mount Taygetus in Greece. In Asia, 
it occurs in Kashmir, as well as on the Bithynian Olympus, and on 
the Russian Altai range, extending into the Arctic regions as far 
as Kamtchatka ; thence it passes to the Rocky Mountains in North- 
West America, and to Disco Island in Davis’s Strait. A closely- 
related species, the Aspidiwm munitum of Kaulfuss, intermediate 
between our P. Lonchitis and the P. falcinellum of Madeira, is 
found in California, and at Nootka Sound. _ 
Our own experience of the cultivation of Polystichum Lonchitis 
is, that it is a plant of shy growth, and very tardy increase. It 
requires a cool moist shady frame, and when once established may 
be kept in good condition in such a situation. It must be potted, 
very firmly, in well drained loamy gritty soil, and be kept freely 
supplied with moisture, which however on no account should be 
stagnant. It seems to need a pure air, as its mountain home would 
suggest, and probably does not like the denser atmosphere of low- 
land situations. Hence in confined or smoky localities it will not 
long exist on out-door rockwork, but in places where the atmos- 
phere is salubrious, and especially if the situation is elevated, it 
will succeed in a shady rockery, where the damp but well drained 
conditions of its natural localities, can be tolerably closely imitated. 
The climate of Ireland seems more congenial to this plant, than 
that of the south of England. 
The fact that this species, though a vigorous looking and hardy 
plant in its native haunts, is seldom seen to preserve its vigour 
under cultivation, at least in the neighbourhood of London, is 
mainly, we think, owing to the impossibility of securing the pure 
atmosphere of its native mountains. It certainly prefers a damp 
atmosphere ; and, provided the moisture is not stagnant, its roots 
too should be freely supplied; they should in fact be constantly 

