668 UNDERWOOD: FERNS OF THE PHILIPPINES 
diagnostic characters than others and need to be specially noted in 
the field, particularly in plants too large to be collected entire. A 
few general features should always be noted and these are here 
-summarized : 
1. In all ferns not over two feet high an entire plant should be 
secured, but in plants growing in dense crowns the rootstock may 
well be split lengthwise and several of the leaves removed before 
drying. 
2. In all ferns not over four feet high an entire leaf should be 
secured if possible attached to the rootstock or to some portion of 
it. In case of very wide leaves the lower pinnae on one side may 
be cut away to prevent the too great massing of foliage when the 
leaf is doubled on itself to make a manageable specimen. 
3. In tree-ferns the basal portion of the petiole should always 
be secured, if possible, attached to the lower pinnules. Where 
possible the top of the caudex should also be taken. Notes on 
the character of the leaf-scars should always be made. 
4. If the specimen taken does not show whether the leaves 
are scattered or cespitose this fact should always be included in the 
notes. 
5. In ferns of whatever size, invariably secure some portion of 
the rootstock, for it nearly always possesses diagnostic characters. 
6. In large leaves note whether the lowermost pinnae are larger 
than the others or are reduced in size and if their laminae stand 
in the same plane as the rest of the leaf or are set obliquely. 
Had the earlier collectors followed such directions instead of 
taking mere tips of large leaves, or single leaves of smaller ferns 
wholly without rootstocks, we would now be saved the uncertainty 
of identifying plants with descriptions based on such scrappy ™4 
terials. 
The six orders represented in the Philippines may be distin- 
guished as follows : 
1. Plants of fern-like habit, mostly with broad leaves. . 
Plants of rush-like habit ; foliage reduced to whorls of united scales forming sheaths 
at the joints of the stems; sporangia borne under peltate shields collected in 4 
terminal cone V. Equisetales. 
Plants of moss like habit, with 4~-10-ranked scale-like or linear leaves, terrestrial or 
epiphytic ; sporangia borne in the axils of ordinary or modified leaves. 
VI. Lycopodiales. 
