11. H. COMPTON: rTERIDOPHYTA. 435 



PTERIDOPHYTA. 



Bv R. H. CoMPTON, 



All the luain gioiips of Vascular Cryptogams are represented in New 

 <yale(lonia, except the IsoetaleSj — Ferns and Lycopods being present in a 

 ■remarkable degree. Fournier ('Tilices Nov^-Caledoniae : Enumcratio Mono- 

 graphlca" in Ann. Sci. Nat* Bot. 5^ ser. xviii. 253, 1873) recorded no fewer 

 than 259 species of Ferns from the Archipelago. Some of these records are 

 doubtful; but, on tlie other hand, a number of new species has been added 

 :since 1873, through tlie collections o£ Le Rat, Fournier, and others. An 

 estimate of about 250 species of Ferns would, I think, approximate to the 

 truth. It appears probable tliat further collections will not add largely to 

 this total ; though it must be remembered that a large part of the country, 

 iind that apparently of the most interesting character, is so far botani- 

 cally unexplored. My own collections, which include 14:9 Ferns and 20 

 other Vascular Cryptogams, contain few novelties in comparison with the 

 \vealth of new material obtained among the Phanerogams: 7 now species. 



8 new varieties, and 7 new forms being all that have resulted. The fact that 

 the New Caledonian Pteridophyta are so much better known than tbe 

 Flowering Plants is largely due to tlie greater ease with which they can be 

 ■collected in good condition for preservation and study. 



The Jeirree of enderalsm which obtains amonG: the New Caledonian Pteri- 

 dophyta is noteworthy, but is small in comparison with that of the Phanero- 

 gamic flora. Of the 44 genera of Ferns represented in niy collection, only 

 one, Stromatopteris^ is endemic ; and of the 142 species of Ferns and 25 

 species of Fern Allies^ 56 and 9 respectively are endemic, giving a total 

 percentage endeniism of 39, Of Fournier's 259 species of Ferns 8G were 

 endemic, this being about 33 per cent. 



As Fournier and Diels have pointed out, the endemic species include both 

 primitive typos, of which Stromatopteris is the most remarkable, and also 

 groups of species produced by local evolution in the isolation of insular life : 

 of these latter tlie genera Lomaria and Lhidsaya and the Iricliomanes of tho 

 7\ dentatum alliance are notewortliy examples. The Pteridopjjyta, Just as 

 do other groups, point clearly on the one hand to the anticLuity of the New 

 Caledonian land-surface, and on the other to its prolonged isolation from 

 neighbouriuii land-masses. 



The endemic species are verj^ unequally distributed among the genera : 

 some large genera (e.g., IlymenopJn/llum^ Lindsai/a^ Lomaria, Selagtnella) 

 aic almost entirely represented by endemic species, while other related 

 genera (o.g., TricliomaneSy Davalliay Lycop)odiuvi) show a low degree of 

 endemism. 



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