24

ASPIDIUM, § POLYSTICHUM.

25. A. (Pol ysti chum) microphyllum, Bl.; “frond bipin-nate coriaceous slightly hairy beneath, pinnules trapezoidmucronate mucronately serrulate, lowest ones auricled at thebase above (auricles rotundato-mucronate), sori scattered,rachis and stipes paleaceous.” Bl. En. Fil. Jav. p. 163.—Kze. Bot. Zeit. vi. p. 282. Metten . Aspid. p. 49. Asp. am-blyotus, Kze. Bot. Zeit. vi. p. 283 ? A. tacticopterum, Kze.in Linncea, xxiv. p. 290. Metten . Aspid. p. 49 ?

Hab. Java , Blume, Zollinger, n. 408 z .—Blume’s character is much too brieffor any practical use. Kunze says, “ e grege A. vestiti,” a plant which we referto A. (Polvst.) aculeatum. —May not the East Indian A. tacticopterum, Kze. 1. c.,be the same ? or some form of aculeatum ? Again, of his A. amblyotus, from Java ,Kunze says, “ pracedenti (A. microphyllo) affine; sed pinnulis basi lobatis, medioet apice acute serratis diversuin et multo majus.” It is a hopeless task to deter-mine them without access to authentic specimens or faithful figures.

26. A. (Polystichum) ohtasum, Mett.; caudex a short thick

scaly rhizome, stipites 4-5 inches long squarrose with copi-ous ferruginous ovate very long pointed soft scales mixed withnarrow subulate ones which continue up the rachis, fronds aspan to nearly a foot long coriaceo-membranaceous slightlyvillous above ferrugineo-hirsute beneath oblong bipinnate, theapex long gradually acuminated, inferior pinnge 2-3 inches longlinear obtuse, their pinnules ^ of an inch long obovato-rhom-boid very obliquely cuneate at the base, superior margin andapex chiefly spinuloso-serrulate, superior pinnte oblong-rhomboid obliquely cuneate at the base, auricled above, veinsforked close indistinct, involucres fringed at the margin.(Tab. CCXXI.)— Metten . Aspid. p. 52. Polystichum,Presl, Epimel. Bot. p. 53. ./. Sm. in Hook. Journ. of Bot.

iii. p. 412 (name only). Mettenius refers hither Polyst. dis-cretum, ./. Sm., and P. horizontale and P. acutifolium, Pr.Epimel.

Hab. Luzon , Cuming , n. 234, Thos. Lobb .—Mr. J. Smith speaks of this as adoubtful species. My specimens are very uniform. Thomas Lobb has found thesame plant in the same island. It is remarkable in the lower half or rathermore being bipinnate, the rest pinnate. Mr. J. Smith does not say to which spe-cies of the genus the present is most allied ; X should say it cannot be far re-moved from some of the protean forms of Aspid. aculeatum.

27. A. (Polystichum) oculatum, Hook, (not Wall.); caudex ?stipes a span long rather stout stramineous flexuose paleace-ous with rather large rigid subulato-lanceolate black pale-margined scales, these scales are continued on the rachisesbut are smaller less deeply coloured and are mixed with