422 MR. J. G. BAKEE OX A COLLECTION OF FEBXS. 



Leaves ascending, densely imbricated all round the stem, falcate, rigid 

 in texture, linear with a dilated base, i\ inch long, cut down to a nar- 

 row midrib into a series of subulate teeth, the lower ones, ascending the 

 upper ones squarrose. Sporangia copious, minute, in the axils of un- 

 modified leaves. Perhaps the most distinct novelty of the whole collec- 

 tion, as no other Lycopodium with pectinate or divided leaves is known. 



Lycopodium complanatum, Linn. 



This widely-spread species was not known before, either in Con- 

 tinental Africa or any of the islands of the Mascarene archi- 

 pelago. 



Selaginella fissidentoides, Spring. 



S. suberosa, Spring. 



S. laevigata (Lam.), Baker. 



The collection contains altogether 114 species, of which 28 prove 

 to be novelties. That such should be the case in an Order where 

 the diffusion of the species is so wide as in the Ferns is calculated 

 to raise onr expectation of what we may expect when the Flower- 

 ing Plants of the same region are gathered ; and it is interesting 

 to notice that some of the species, such as Asplenium Tricliomanes, 

 Neplirodium Filix-mas, and Aspidium aculeatum, are thoroughly 

 temperate types. The development of lamina in the species known 

 elsewhere, and the strong tendency shown by many of them to 

 become viviparous, indicates a damp humid climate with localities 

 excellently suited for the development of fern-growth. 



