MAXON-——STUDIES OF TROPICAL AMERICAN FERNS, 33 
spreading, papilionaceous; receptacle cylindric-globose, minutely squamulose-setose; 
leaf tissue membrano-herbaceous, dark green and somewhat lustrous above, much paler 
below. 
Type in the U.S. National Herbarium, no. 830314, collected at Cafias Gordas, Valle 
de Agua Buena, Costa Rica, altitude 1,100 meters, February, 1897, by H. Pittier (no. 
10969). Known only from this collection. 
Not very closely related to any other of the free-veined species of this group, the 
shape and curvature of the segments being distinctive. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 19.—Middle sections of typical pinnee of the type specimens (a) of Hemitelia 
pittieri; (b) of H. subglabra. Both natural size. 
6. Hemitelia chiricana Maxon, sp. nov. PuLate 20, 
Caudex slender, erect, about 20 cm. high, 2.5 to 3 cm. in diameter, radicose below, 
above sheathed with old fibrous stipe bases, paleaceous at the crown, the scales very 
firm, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, about 8 mm. long, dark glossy brown (or with 
whitish margins), those of the lower stipe much thinner, yellowish brown or light 
brown, deltoid-ovate, subfalcate, more or less fimbriate; fronds 1 to 1.7 meters long; 
stipe relatively stout, 5 to 8 mm. in diameter, 20 to 35 cm. long, dull dark brownish, 
minutely tuberculate near the base, closely invested with a thin harsh subpersistent 
covering of light crispate hairs; lamina elliptic-oblong, abruptly acuminate, 80 to 
145 cm. long, 35 to 45 em. broad near the middle, 15 to 20 cm. broad at the base, 
deeply bipinnatifid, the rachis closely crispate-tomentulose; pinne 20 to 25 pairs, 
subopposite or (toward the apex) alternate, inserted 4 to 7 cm. apart on each side, 
oblong-lanceolate, the middle ones 18 to 25 cm. long, 3.2 to 3.8 em. broad, straight 
or commonly decurved, usually not narrowed at the unequally truncate or slightly 
semicordate base, deeply pinnatifid to within 3 or 4 mm. of the costa in the basal 
part, a little less deeply outward, the costal wing 4 to 5 mm. broad on each side below 
the long-acuminate apex; basal pinne shorter and relatively broader, strongly 
deflexed, 10 to 13 cm. long; coste strongly elevated on both sides, above canaliculate 
and glabrous, below much stouter, at firstclosely and scantily yellowish-pubescent 
and with a few deciduous broad flaccid whitish fimbriate scales at the sides; segments 
of the middle pinne about 25 pairs, oblong or (in fully fertile fronds) narrowly deltoid- 
oblong, obtuse, 7 to 9 mm. broad at the base, 5 to 7 mm. broad at the middle, falcate 
toward the apex, distinctly separated by rather narrow acute sinuses, or in partially 
fertile specimens much closer; margins slightly revolute, distantly serrulate (or 
appearing subentire) except at the lightly serrate-crenate apices; costules clothed 
below like the cost, or the few scales at once caducous; veins free, evident, glabrous 
above, minutely furfuraceous below, 10 to 13 pairs, oblique, mostly once-forked 
nearer the costule than the margin, or the lower ones forked medially, the branches 
all rather close, oblique, not widely divergent; sori borne usually at the fork of the 
veins, or at the base of the anterior branch, or (in the case of the basal veins) upon 
each branch, mostly apart, the lower ones medial, those above closer to the costule, 
the ones at the apex nearly basal, thus forming a A-shaped line; indusium firmly 
membranous, dark brown, semicircular, entire to obtusely lobed; receptacle globose- 
capitate, closely setiferous; leaf tissue firmly herbaceous, very dark green above, con- 
spicuously lighter below. 
Type in the U.S. National Herbarium, nos. 675908-675910, comprising a frond and 
part of the rhizome of a plant collected in humid forest between the Alto de las Palmas 
and the top of the Cerro de la Horqueta, Chiriqui, Panama, altitude 2,100 to 2,268 
meters, March 18, 1911, by William R. Maxon (no. 5519). Known only from the type 
locality, other specimens being Mazon 5521, with identical data. 
This species stands about midway between JH. pittieri and H. contigua. It may be 
separated readily from the former by the characters noted in thekey. It is contrasted 
with H. contigua under the discussion of that species. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 20.—Middle pinne of the type specimen, Mazon 5519. Natural size. 
