154

XE PH ROLE PIS.

Gardner, n. 187, 1233, Spruce , n. 20, 21, 1292; Guiana , Parker, Sagot, n. 724,137; Surinam (Ite Vriese ); Panama , ». 258, Hayes; Venezuela , Frndler, n. 420 ;Columbia, Cuming, n. 1263. West Indies : Cuba , Wright, n. 1011 (N. punctu-lata, Eat. Fit. Wright and Fendl. p. 212); Jamaica ,Purdie; Dominica ,Imray .—fS. Singapore , Schomiurgk, n. 23. Ceram and Banda, Be Vriese and Teijsmann.—I have long foreseen the difficulty attending the successful study of the species ofthis genus, of which Presl alone enumerates twenty-nine species. My extensiveseries of specimens, from various parts of the world, will not justify me in followinghis steps, and if I have under-estimated the amount, it is yet, I believe, the safestand wisest course to pursue. As hitherto described, many of them are utterlyunintelligible. Of the present species, different as it may appear in its most perfectform (as represented, for instance, by Schkuhr ) from some states of N. escaltata,there are intermediate grades which I cannot safely refer to the one or theother.

4. N. obliterata, Hook.; caudex very long filiform hereand there subsquamoso-tomentose rooting with few shortfibres, stipites scattered short 1-2 inches long and as well asthe rachis dark-brown subpubescent, fronds 3-12—14 incheslong oblong or linear-oblong membranaceous invariablyblack when dry, pinnated, pinnee from i-l| inch long hori-zontally patentrather distant dimidiato-oblong obtuseor acuterarely acuminate obliquely cuneate at the base sessile straightor subfalcate, superior base truncate and parallel with therachis, frequently with a sharp auricle, the margin entireor crenate or lobato-dentate especially on the fertile pin 1102 ,costae slender flexuose, veinlets forked upper branch bearingson at the apex a little distance from the margin, involucresmall cordato-reniform soon obliterated.—Nephrodium obli-teratum, Brown, Prodr. FI. Nov. Holl. p. 148. Aspid. undu-latum, Sw. Syn. Fil. p. 45? {excl. Syn. Cav., fide Willd.).Willd. Sp. PL v. p. 223 ? Nephrod. subpectinatum, Bl. En.Fil. Jav. p. 145. N. trichomanoides. J. Sm. in. Hook. Bot.Journ. iii. p. 413 ( name only). N. repens, Brack. Fil. U. S.Esepl. Exp. p. 209.

Hab. Tropical Australia, Sir Jos. Banks: Endeavour River, AIL Cunningham;M‘Leay River, Dr. Beckler (F. Mueller), Tropical West Africa: Sierra Leone ,Afzelius; Angiama, Lower Niger, climbing on small trees and adhering to themlike ivy, caudices 10 feet long, Barter , in Baikie's Niger Eueped. n. 146 and 292(some of the pinnae 2 inches long). Fernando Po , Barter , G. Mann, n. 246.Society Islands , Nightingale . Fiji Islands and Samoan Islands , Brackenridge ,Milne,n. 299, Seemann, n. 831. India : Java , Elume, in Herb, nostr.; Luzon ,Cuming, n. 101 ; Ceram, De Vriese and Teijsmann, n. 235 ; Ceylon, Gardner , n.1094 and 1376.—A well-marked species, which though varying in the size andsomewhat in the form of the pinnules, is yet easy to be recognized. In the longcreeping caudex and scattered stipites it is peculiar in the genus, and the pinnasare not distinctly articulated.

5. N. davallioides, Kze.; caudex very short erect stolo-