MAXON—STUDIES OF TROPICAL AMERICAN FERNS. 585 
tiguous, orbicular to ovate-deltoid, averaging 0.6 mm. broad, peltate, brownish, 
with delicately toothed yellowish borders. 
Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 675627, from tree trunks and logs 
in forest near Camp Aguacatal, eastern slope of Chiriqui Volcano, Panama, at 
an altitude of 2,100 to 2,300 meters, March 10 to 18, 1911, by William R. Maxon 
(no. 5278). 
The specific name macrolepis is chosen particularly by way of emphasizing 
the contrast afforded by the rhizome scales of this species to those of its nearest 
relative, P. myriolepis Christ, with which species it might casually be confused. 
From P. myriolepis it differs, nevertheless, not only in its elongate, widely im- 
bricate rhizome scales, which are many times larger and of wholly different 
character (as described elsewhere), but also in its decidedly fewer, more oblique, 
and abruptly discontinuous segments and in its very much larger and less deeply 
immersed sori. In addition, it occupies a higher altitudinal range. 
Besides the type, the following specimens of P. macrolepis are in the National 
Herbarium: 
PanaMA: Cuesta Grande, eastern slope of Chriqui Volcano, alt. 2,600 to 
2,900 meters, Maron 5812. 
Costa Rica: Volefin de Turrialba, alt. 2,500 meters, Alfaro 55, 
5. Polypodium polypodioides (L.) Hitche. Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 4: 156, 1893. 
Acrostichum polypodioides L. Sp. Pl. 1068. 1753. 
Acrostichum ferruginosum L. Sp. Pl. ed. 2. 1525. 1768. 
Polypodium incanum Swartz, Prodr. Veg. Ind, Occ. 131. 1788. 
Polypodiium ceteraccinum Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer, 2: 271. 1803. 
Polypodium velatum Schkuhr, Krypt. Gewiichs. 1: 188. pl. 17D. 1809. 
Marginaria minima Bory, Dict. Class. 10: 177. 1826. 
Polypodium squalidum Vell, Fl. Flum., 11: pl. 76. 1827; Arch. Mus. Nac. Rio 
Janeiro 5: 449. 1881. 
Marginaria incana Presl, Tent. Pter. 188. 1836. 
Goniophlebium incanum J. Smith, Journ, Bot. Hook. 4: 56. 1841. 
Lepicystis incana J. Smith, Lond, Journ. Bot. 1: 195. 1842. 
Polypodium microlepis Fée, Gen. Fil. 288. 1852; Mém. Foug. 6: 8. pl. 6. f. 2. 
1854, 
Polypodium incanioides Fée, Mém. Foug. 8: 88. 1857. 
Goniophlebium ceteraccinum Fée, Crypt. Vase. Brés, 1: 107. 1869. 
Goniophelebium microlepis Fée, Crypt. Vasc. Brés. 1: 107. 1869. 
Marginavria polypodioides Tidestrom, Torreya 5: 171. 1905. 
Polypodium mesetae Christ, Bull. Herb, Boiss. II. 5: 49. 1905. 
Type LOCALITY: “ Habitat in Virginia, Jamaica.” 
DIsTRIBUTION: Maryland and Kentucky to southern Missouri, southward to 
Florida and Texas and throughout tropical America generally (including the 
West Indies) to Argentina and Chile. 
An ubiquitous species throughout a large part of its wide range, variable in 
most characters, but even its different forms too distinctive to permit its 
being confused with other species to any extent. The venation varies from 
goniophlebioid to that of Eupolypodium, and this in plants otherwise essen- 
tially identical, ranging from the southeastern United States through Mexico, 
Central Araerica, and the West Indies to Brazil and Bolivia. Most plants from 
the regions just mentioned have the scales of the under side of the lamina 
varying from roundish to deltoid-ovate and acuminate or even attenuate, the 
roundish type perhaps predominating in plants of northerly distribution ; but 
in certain small forms from Mexico and Costa Rica the scales are much more 
