STUDIES OF TROPICAL AMERICAN FERNS—NO. 3. 
By Witiiam R. Maxon. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The present paper is in continuation of two others published * 
under the same title, giving the results of various studies of tropical 
American ferns. With the accumulation of a large amount of 
herbarium material the work of revision offers less difficulty than 
heretofore; but there is still very great need of specimens from the 
wet forested regions of eastern and southern Mexico. That adequate 
botanical exploration may be carried on in these mountain districts 
is of the first importance, not only in the study of pteridophyta, 
but to a great extent of other groups as well. 
THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF HEMITELIA, SUBGENUS 
CNEMIDARIA. 
The genus Hemitelia was founded by Robert Brown in 1810? 
upon three previously described species: Cyathea multiflora, C. 
horrida, and C. capensis. As pointed out by the writer in a recent 
paper,’ the first of these, which has long been misidentified and now 
proves to be the species described later as Hemiteha nigricans Presl, 
has been generally accepted by writers on ferns as the type of the 
genus. All recent writers have agreed also that H. multiflora and 
H. capensis, at least, are congeneric. Presl, however, who was the 
first to divide the genus, restricted Hemitelia to the single species H. 
capensis, relegated HH. multiflora to Alsophila, and established * 
the genus Cnemidaria to include H. horrida and several related 
species. The first species listed by him is ‘‘Cnemidaria speciosa 
(Hemitelia speciosa Kaulf, nec Willd.)”’ which, being figured by him, 
will stand as the type of his genus. In a later publication’ Presl 
proposed a rather elaborate reclassification of the group which we 
1 Contr. Nat. Herb. 107: 473-508. pls. 55, 56. Mar. 30, 1908. Contr. Nat. Herb. 
137: 1-43. pls. 1-9. June 30, 1909. 
2 Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. 158. 1810. 
$ Bull. Torrey Club 38: 545-550. pl. 35. 1911. 
4 Tent. Pterid. 56. 1836. 
5 Abh. Bohm. Ges. Wiss. V. 5: 349-356. 1848. 
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