42 



SPHiEROPTERIS barbata. Tab. 48. 



Sphaeropteris barbata, Wall. loc. cit. 



Peranema cyathoides, Don. loc. cit. 



Habitat in montibus altissimis Napaliae Sheopore et Chandaghiri, vigens tempore anui frigido, Novembre — Januario. 



FiLix erecta, 2 — 3-pedalis, leetfe viridis. Radix ramosa, fibrosa. Stipes pedalis, pennam anserinam crassus, hinc convexus, indfe 

 exaratus sulco angusto, rachesque depsfe obsiti ])aleis lanceolatis, acuminatis^ reticulatis, integerrimis, majuscuirs, dilute ferrugineis, 

 persistentibus, in novello stipite unguicularibus. Frons patens, lato-ovata, acuminata, membranacea, tripinnata. Pinn^ patentissimae, 

 approximatse, sessiles, oblongee, attenuatae, pectinato-acuminatse, inferiores subopposit«, 10-pollicares. Pinnule numerosa?, approximatse, 

 alternae, sessiles, oblongae, obtusae, 2-pollicares, supr^secus vasa munitse pilis brevibus, hyalinis, subulatis, incurvis, moniliformi-subarticu- 

 latis; pinnatae, apice simpliciter serratse. Lacini.e oblongae, obliqu^ obtusae, vel subtruncatae, simpliciter venulosae, venis subtJis prseditis 

 corpusculis minutissimis, globosis, vel oblongis, stipitatis, glandulseformibus ; inferiores unguiculares, oppositae, dentato-pinnatifidge, sub- 

 falcatoe ; exteriores integerrimae, sensim confluentes. Raches partiales graciles, ferfe exsulcae, paleaceo-subvillosae. Sori in aversa frondis 

 pagina, ad basin laciniarum solitarii, nunc 2 vel 3, exacts globularcs, magnitudine ferfe seminis coriandri, basi foveola notati, suffulti 

 pedicello tereti, filiformi, diametrum ipsorum longitudine aequante, venulae lateraliter, i. e. aliqua a basi apiceque ejusdem distantia in- 

 serto. Involucrum integrum, clausum, sorum omnin^ involvens, farctum, coriaceum, dilute ferrugineum, aetate fuscum, elegantissimfe 

 reticulatum, maturitate verticaliter disrumpens in valvidas 2, ferfe ajquales, hemisphaericas, demilm reflexas et subexplanatas. Capsule 

 densissiraae, ovatae, pariim complanatae, deors^m acutae, annulo crassiusculo, aiticulato circumdatae, pallidfe ferrugineae, longiusculfe et 

 capillaceo-pedicellatee, in fundo involucri insertae receptaculo convexo, ferfe capitato, majusculo. Semina subglobosa, grandiuscula. 



The accurate- figure drawn by Mr. Curtis, and the masterly dissections executed ten years ago, at the request of 

 Mr. Brown, by Mr. Francis Bauer, exhibit this interesting fern with such fidehty and truth, that all further iUustration 

 on my part is wholly unnecessary. To the latter gentleman, who unquestionably holds the first rank among the 

 botanical painters of this age, I beg to offer my best thanks for his valuable addition to my work : and to Mr. Brown, 

 who has fiivoured me with the generic character and observation on the fern, I have again to express my deep obli- 

 gation. The plant is one of the rarer productions of Nipal. I have only found it on the summit of two of the 

 highest mountains near the great valley of that country, and have never received it from any other place. 



It is necessary to explain the reasons for my having preferred a manuscript name for my fern to one already 

 published. It is eleven years since I first furnished my correspondents in England with specimens of it ; and it was 

 included in a general collection of ferns, which I sent in 1823 to the Museum at the India House. Of the arrival of 

 this collection I presume the author of the Prodromus Florcs Nepalensts cannot have been ignorant, since the Hon. East 

 India Company most liberally distributed the duplicates in May of the following year. In the museum just mentioned 

 the fern was labelled, ''Cyathea? barbata, Wall, vix non genus novum, SphcBropteris Nob., non Bernhardi:' a name which 

 Mr. Brown did me the honour of adopting immediately, in preference to that of Podeilema, which he had given the 

 plant, at the time he procured the beautiful drawing, from which the details of my plate were derived. In the work 

 alluded to, neither is any notice taken of the name proposed by me, nor is even the source mentioned from whence the 

 fern was obtained ; and in a number of other cases the author has treated me with still less courtesy, inasmuch as he 

 repeatedly quotes my names of plants, and at the same time rejects them. In the instance (A Aconitum ferox (see 

 above p. 35.) he cites that name, he even repeats it, as having been adopted by my illustrious friend Professor DeCan- 

 doUe, from my manuscript ; and yet he rejects us both, and introduces the species under the name of ^. virosum. In the 

 same manner he disposes of a species oi Aspidium from Nipal, called after me, and published by a botanist of the greatest 

 authority and celebrity, one of the dearest and most esteemed friends I possess in the world. Professor Hooker; not 

 to mention a great many other instances of a similar nature, and some of them still more pointed, which occur in his 

 own publication, as well as in his additions to those of others. Having never in my life experienced such conduct, or 

 any thing in the remotest degree like it, from any other quarter, I might have been justified in the course I have taken ; 

 but there is another reason for my not adopting the name Pera7iema, which is, that there exists already a genus 

 of Verbenacew called Peronema by the late Mr. Jack, in a work which was published in 1822 {Malayan Miscellanies, 

 vol. 2. no. 7. p. 46.). That these names are likely to be confounded must at once be evident, and is proved by 

 M. Kaulfuss, who in speaking of this genus of ferns uniformly calls it Peronema. . 



Plate XLVIli. Fig. 1. A pinnula presenting the upper surface. 2. The same viewed from below. 3. A segment of the same, with 

 two lobes stdl more enlarged, showing the fructification and the glandular veins. 4. A detached sorus with its peduncle. 5. The 

 same seen from below. 6. 7- The same after bursting, showing the bivalvular involucrum and the crowded seeds. 8. The same 

 m a still more advanced state, with the valves entirely expanded. 9. Vertical section of a sorus, exhibiting the hemispherical 

 receptacle with the seeds attached. lo. ll. 12. 13. Capsules with their pedicel. 14. The same burst open. 15. Seeds. 



16. Iwo jointed hairs detached from the upper surface of the pinna. 17. Capitate glandular bodies, removed from the veins on the 

 under surface of the pinna, of various shapes. The last eight figures highly magnified. 



