NEPHEOUIUM, § EUNEPHRODIUM.

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quite distinct as far as I can judge from fronds with very imperfect fructification.It is Lastrea exigua , J. Srn. (name only), and Physematium PMligwinum of Pr.Epimel. Bot. p. 34, according to his reference.

4. N. (Pleocnemia?) excellens, Bl.; “frond bipinnatifidmembranaceous slightly pubescent on the veins and rachiseson both sides, pinnse sessile (a foot long) elongato-lanceolatesharply acuminate deeply pinnatifid, segments falcato-oblongacuminate entire or remotely crenulate, sori seriate^ stipesglabrous.”— BL En. Fii. Jav. p. 160. Metten . Aspid.’p . 117.Proferea, Pr. Epimel. Bot. p. 259.

Hab. Java , Blume. —Although possessing an authentic specimen of this fromDr. Blume, I can add little more than the author has stated in the work abovequoted, for the specimen is confined to two pinnse only, nearly a foot long; theseappear different from any other Fern known to me. The venation quite resemblesthat of Pleocnemia , and in my specimen the very small involucres are reniform;but Presl says, “ oval, rarely orbicular, at the base often slightly emavginate,prolonged at the apex into an acute scariose process.” Blume alludes to its nearaffinity with his Aspidium (Euaspidium) giganteum , differing indeed, as he says,in the nature of the venation.

§ Eunephrodium. — Costules or primary veins pinnate, secondary ones or vein-lets, one (the lower one) or more pairs angularly conmivent, and from thoseunited ones producing an excurrent veinlet , which is free or extends to the an-gles above, thus forming, as it were, a pseudo-costule, which continues to thesinus. Nephrodium, Schott, Presl, and others.

The union of one or more of the opposite veinlets is the characteristic of thisgroup, or genus as many consider it. But there are cases, as is well known to theattentive student of Ferns , in which it is difficult to say if the union is complete;and in not a few cases there are free and united veinlets on the same individualspecimen; hence many incorporate Lastrea with Nephrodium whether as a genusor a section, both having cordate or reniform involucres.

* Fronds simple, more or less pinnatifid, rarely pinnate at the base .

5. N. (Eunephrodium) Cumingianum, J. Sm.; caudex creep-ing rooting, stipites crowded 3-6 inches long glossy strami-neous slender, fronds thin membranaceous lanceolate acumi-nate costate the margin entire or sublobato-sinuate, costulespinnate with three to four erecto-patent veinlets mostly com-bined in, opposite pairs, sori dorsal on the middle of a veinletsmall, involucres small narrow-reniform membranaceousciliated.—Aspidium (Nephrodium) Cumingianum, Kze. inSchk. Fil. Suppl. p. 17. t. 9. /. 2. Metten . Aspid. p. 96.Nephrodium, J. Sm. in Bot. of Herald, p. 237- t. 50 ( notNephrodium Cumingii, J. Sm., which is Nephrodium conio-neuron, Fee).

Hab. Tropica] America , Panama , Cuming, n. 1123 ,Fendler, n. 391. Isle ofCoyba, Seemann. — A small, delicate, but well-marked species, accurately figuredby Kunze, and in Dr. Seemann’s 1 Botany of H. M. S. Herald.’