200 ME. J. G. BAKER ON A COLLECTION 



nato-pinnatifid, acuminate, many upper with all the lobes except 

 the lowest on the upper side small, ligulate, erecto-patent and 

 parallel. A. affine seems to be as variable in cutting in Mada- 

 gascar as A, lineatum is in Mauritius, running into dareoid forms, 

 both bipinnate and tripinnate and sometimes taking root at the 

 tip ; and yet, as known elsewhere, it keeps to the same characters 

 over a wide geographical range. 



109*. AsPLENiUM GiLPiNJE, Baker, n. sp. Stipe (incomplete) 

 green and scaleless, like the rachis- Frond oblong-lanceolate, 'f 



bipinnate, under a foot long, 3^ in. broad, membranous, glabrous. 

 Pinnse distant, short-petiolcd, lanceolate-acuminate, cut away 

 cuneately on the lower side at the base, the lowest the largest, 

 an inch broad, with shallow, close, erecto-patent, ligulate lobes in 

 the upper, and a single free rhomboid pinnule on the anterior side 

 at the base, which is ^-| in. long, f-l in. broad. Veins distinct, 

 erecto-patent, \ line apart, the lower compound, the upper simple. 

 Sori median, 3-4 lines long, reaching neither the midrib nor the 

 edge. Involucre narrow, persistent. 



Very like the American A, obtusifoUum in texture and the 

 shape of the pinnae, but in cutting coming near horridum and K 



protensum. 



126*. A. nERPETOPTERis, BaJcer^ n. sp, Ehizome about as 

 thick as a goose's quill, flexuose, wide-trailing, nearly black, thinly 

 clothed with spreading linear acuminate dark brown scales -^ in. 

 long, Fronds distant, with slender faintly scaly stipes about an 

 inch long, brownish, like the slender rachis. Lamina lanceolate, 

 3-8 inches long, 1-2 inches broad at the middle, narrowed gra- 

 dually to both ends, tripinnatifid, glabrous, moderately firm in 



texture. 



hi 



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base, cut down to the rachis at the base, the lower segments 

 cuneate, the upper ones ligulate and not so deep. Veins erecto- 

 patent, one central in each of the ligulate segments, flabellate in 

 the cuneate ones. Sori median, |-4 in. long. Involucre narrow, 

 glabrous, persistent. 



Differs mainly from the small forms of ^. affine by its slender, 



Wide-trailing rhizome, and, like qffine^ running into a dareoid 

 variety, 



A. viviPAHUM, Presl. 



• A. (Athtrium) yiQ-RivEB, Blume. Miss Gilpin's set of -4Mj/r/a 

 show a wide range of variety ; but I do not think any of them are 



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