344 : THE BRITISH FERNS. 
in other localities in that island, whence both Mr. Wolsey and Mr. 
C. Jackson have furnished specimens. The plants are developed in 
autumn, and are fully fructified by October. It seems probable 
that a diligent search would be rewarded by its discovery in the 
western counties of England, or in Ireland. It must, however, be 
sought after in winter, or even earlier. 
This Fern is found in the European countries bordering the 
Mediterranean, as well as in many of the islands of that sea: e. g., 
Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia, and Greece. It 
grows also at Tangiers, Algiers, and probably elsewhere on the 
African coast; and in the Atlantie Islands of Madeira, Teneriffe, 
the Canaries, the Azores and the Cape de Verds. It is found in 
the southern hemisphere at Swan River, and in New Zealand. 
Other plants closely allied to, and perhaps identical with this, 
have been found by Mr. Spruce at St. Gabriel, and by others in New 
Grenada, Java, and Borneo; and in the Hookerian Herbarium, are 
others again comparatively broader in the fronds, from Tasmania, the 
Isle of Pines, and St. Helena, all three being at least closely allied 
to O. lusitanicum. The O. minimum of New Zealand, is a diminutive 
form of this normally diminutive species. 
The most successful attempts that have been made to cultivate this 
little plant have consisted in taking up the roots, in little clods of 
soil, and planting them in a compost of sandy loam, which resembles 
the earth in which they naturally grow. In this way, the plants may 
be occasionally preserved and induced to reappear at the proper 
season ; but like all the allied species it can hardly be considered as 
a manageable subject in the cultivator's hands. 

