MAXON STUDIES OF TROPICAL AMERICAN FERNS. 25 



yellowish brown, minutely furfuraceo-pubeseent, sparingly fibrillose with long tor- 

 tuous linear dark-brown scales, the rachis similarly fibrillose throughout; lamina 

 lanceolate, fully bipinnate, about 90 cm. long, 30 to 38 cm. broad in the middle, 

 tapering in both directions, the apex acute, the base somewhat reduced; pinnae about 

 40 pairs, nearly horizontal, sessile, the middle ones alternate, about 2 cm. apart on each 

 side, 17 to 19 cm. long, 2 to 2.5 cm. broad, the apex deeply serrate; lowermost pinnae 

 subopposite, 4 to 6 cm. apart, 6 to 8 cm. long, 1 to 1.3 cm. broad; secondary rachises 

 with a few linear dark-brown light-margined scales toward the base, elsewhere with 

 dark brownish stellate light-centered scales mingled with yellowish hairs; pinnules 

 of the middle pinnae 40 to 45 pairs, slightly oblique, free, mostly Bhort-stalked, the 

 upper ones constricted above the rounded base and unequally hastulate, the lower 

 ones fully hastulate and cut to the costa, the basal divisions rounded and free; margins 

 subentire, only the apex of the pinnule regularly crenate-serrate; costa? elevated, 

 bearing stellate scales and hairs like those of the secondary rachis; veins 10 to 12 pairs, 

 once forked near the base; sori 4 or 5 pairs, close to the costa; indusia dark reddish 

 brown, subhemispheric, open, firm, persistent, the margins entire; receptacle large, 

 capitate. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 523240-523242, collected from the for- 

 ested slopes of the Finca Las Gracias, Yateras, province of Oriente, Cuba; altitude 

 about 500 meters, May 5, 1907, Maxon 4474. Known only from the specimens of this 

 collection, the type consisting of a single frond, with a portion of the rhizome, mounted 

 upon three sheets. 



3. Cyathea minor I). C. Eaton, Mem. Amer. Acad. II. 8: 215. 1860. 

 Type locality: Monte Verde, Cuba, Wright 949. 



Distribution: Known only from the province of Oriente, Cuba, only the following 

 seen, besides the type specimens: Santa Ana, about 6 miles north of Jaguey, Yateras, 

 Oriente, altitude 600 to 625 meters, in a partially shaded ravine, April 23, 1907, Maxon 

 4134. 



4. Cyathea pubescens Mett.; Kuhn, Linnaea 36: 164. 1869. 

 Type locality: Jamaica. 



Distribution: Common in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, at altitudes of from 

 1,500 to 2, 100 meters. Also in Porto Rico, upon the summit of El Yunque. Reported 

 from Haiti. 



5. Cyathea balanocarpa D. C. Eaton, Mem. Amer. Acad. II. 8: 215. 1860. 

 Type locality: Eastern Cuba, Wright 1063. 



Distribution: Known only from the province of Oriente, Cuba, on partially wooded 

 mountain slopes; altitude, 1,000 to 1,200 meters. 



Besides the type collection, only the following have been seen by the writer: 

 Jiguarto Mountain, Sevilla estate, Sierra Maestra, altitude about 1,020 meters, Sep- 

 tember 18, 1906, N. Taylor 508; upper elopes and summit of the Gran Piedra, altitude 

 about 1,200 meters, trunk 3 to 4.5 meters high, April 14, 1907, Maxon 4031. 



A REVISION OF THE WEST INDIAN SPECIES OF POLYSTICHTJM. 



In his description of PolysticJium triangulum, under plate 33 in his 

 Exotic Ferns, Hooker remarks, with respect to variation in this 

 genus, that it would be "no enviable task" to undertake the descrip- 

 tion of the exotic species. The remark is repeated at page 14 of the 

 fourth volume of the Species Filicum; and surely no one who has 

 attempted to deal with them on the basis of scant herbarium mate- 

 rial alone will be inclined to dispute its aptness. Nevertheless, upon 

 an acquaintance with the species in the field and the collection of 



