THE SOFT PRICKLY SHIELD FERN. 141 
Connaught—Arran Isles. Galway: Connemara; Blackwater, 
near Gort, J. R. Kinahan. Leitrim: Glen Car, R. Barrington. 
Leinster.—Wicklow: Tinnahinch, C. C. Babington; Newtown 
Mount Kennedy, R. Barrington. Dublin: Ballinteer, J. R. Kinahan. 
Kilkenny, J. R. Kinahan. 
Munster.—Cork : Clonmel, J. Sibbald. Waterford.’ _ Tipperary. 
Clare, J. R. Kinahan. Kerry: Killarney, R. Barrington. 
Channel Isles.—Jersey, Dr. Allchin. Guernsey, C. Jackson. 
There are but scanty records of the occurrence of this Fern in 
the northern parts of Europe. It has been found in Sweden and 
Norway, according to Fries, and Nyman also records it from 
Gothland, Norway, and Denmark. In Scotland, as already inti- 
mated, it is rare, more plentiful in England, especially towards the 
south, and becoming even abundant in Ireland. It is also found 
plentifully in the central and southern parts of Europe,—in France, 
Belgium, and various parts of Germany, on the Pyrenees, in Spain, 
in Tuscany, Naples, and other parts of Italy, in Dalmatia, Croatia, 
Transylvania, and Hungary, and in Greece. We believe it is also 
met with at the Dardanelles, and on the coast of the Black Sea, for 
we have no doubt, from Forskal’s brief specific phrase, that the 
Polypodium setiferum from the former habitat is the present species 
rather than JP. aculeatum under which it is usually quoted ; and 
specimens of D’Urville’s gathered on the shore of the Black Sea, 
preserved under the name of aculeatum in the Museum of Natural 
History at Paris, of which we have seen a sketch, belong to the 
acute-pinnuled forms of P. angulare. In Asia, it would appear 
to have been found in Georgia, and in the Province of Guriel at the 
eastern extremity of the Black Sea; and thence it extends to India, 
where it is found in Kashmir, Simla, Khasya, Kumaon, in the 
valley of the Indus at Balti, in Nepal, at Madras, and in the island 
of Ceylon. In Africa, a Fern quite accordant with the British plant, 
occurs im the Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Azores ; also, in 
Abyssinia, on the African coast of the Mediterranean according to 
Kunze, and at Natal. Dr. Asa Gray reports it as occurring in various 
parts of the United States of America; it is found in New England, 
and has been gathered at Sitka; it is an inhabitant of Quito and 

