MAXON—STUDIES OF TROPICAL AMERICAN FERNS. 565 
6. Polypodium fallax Schlecht. & Cham. Linnaea 5: 609. 1830. 
Micropteris fallax J. Smith, Hist. Fil. 186. 1875. 
Lepicystis fallax Diels in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 1*: 323. 1899. 
Polypodium margaritiferum Christ, Bull. Herb. Boiss. II. 5: 3. 1905. 
TYPE LocALITY: Region of Misantla, Mexico. 
DISTRIBUTION : Mexico to Costa Rica, from sea level to at least 1,800 meters 
altitude. 
ILLUSTRATIONS: Christ, op. cit. tert fig. (as P. margaritiferum); Abh. 
Senckenb. Ges. Frankfurt 2: pl. 1. f. 4-6; Fée, Gen. Fil. pl. 10. A. f. 2. 
The characters of Polypodium fallax are well known and need not here be 
repeated. The form described and figured by Christ as P. margaritiferum 1s 
merely an extreme one and is directly connected with typical P. fallax by speci- 
mens collected at the type locality of P. margaritiferum but not included in 
that by Christ (viz, Tonduz 10083) .2 
Polypodium fallax is the type species of John Smith’s ill-founded genus 
Micropteris. The presence of a few scattered scales upon the lamina is not in 
any sense a generic character, and the long-scandent rhizome and small fronds 
characterize a type of plant which has its counterpart in most of the large 
genera of ferns, as, for example, in Asplenium, in the instance of A. filicaule 
Baker. 
Fournier cites many Mexican localities for P. fallav, omitting altitudes, how- 
ever. Diels mistakenly refers to it as a Central American species occupying an 
altitudinal range of from 1,000 to 2,000 meters. The writer has collected it at 
sea level in Guatemala and has no record of its occurrence above 1,300 meters. 
It is invariably epiphytic, creeping widely upon trees and shrubs. 
The following specimens are in the U. 8. National Herbarium: 
Mexico: Tlapacoyo, Liebmann. District of Cérdoba, Veracruz, Fink 68; 
Orcutt 3216. Zacuapan, Veracruz, Purpus 4869. Near Orizaba, alt. 
about 1,300 meters, Pringle 6124; Bourgeau 2784. San Cristobal, near 
Orizaba, Mohr. Without locality, Schaffner 27. 
GUATEMALA : Cubilquitz, Alta Verzpaz, alt. 350 meters, von Tiirckheim II. 85. 
Livingston, near sea level, Maxon & Hay 3782. Choctum, Salvin. 
Honpuras: Trail near Rio Platano, Wilson 685, 
Costa Rica: Santo Domingo de Golfo Dulce, at sea level, Tonduz 11257 
(type of P. margaritiferum) ; Tonduz 10083 (J. D. Smith, no. 7252). 
7. Polypodium xantholepis Harrington, Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. 16: 36. 1877. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Oroya, between San Bartolomeo and San Mateo, Peru 
(Steere). 
DISTRIBUTION : Mountains of Peru. 
Polypodium xantholepis, of which among other material two fronds of the 
original collection are at hand, was both inappropriately named and inade- 
quately described by Harrington. It is, moreover, not ‘ very near P. incanum,” 
as was suggested, but related rather to P. subvestitum and P. fallacissimum. 
It differs from all the species of this group in the exceedingly dense and widely 
imbricate scaly covering of the under surface of the lamina. The scales of 
the rhizome are 2 to 2.8 mm. long, abruptly lance-attenuate from a much 
broader base, attached at the yellowish center above the base, the surrounding 
cells strongly sclerotic, a dark median band of similar but more elongate, thick- 
walled cells extending nearly to the flexuous, attenuate apex; the margins of 
the scales are pale or whitish and composed of several rows of short to trans- 
versely oblong, mainly thin-walled cells, the outermost row arranged as a 
shallowly fimbriate-denticulate border, the teeth bifid. The bright brown scales 
This number is elsewhere cited by Christ (Bull. Herb. Boiss. II. 3: 13. 1901.) 
as P. fallaz. 
10069°—16——3 
