620 UNDERWOOD: THE GENUS GYMNOGRAMME 
species as new. In the case of Acrostichum mollissimum the Kew 
copy of Fée’s notable work on the ferns of Brazil is marked 
opposite this species “‘ = Axdertii,” a plant originally described from 
Mauritius and naturally having nothing to do with the American 
species, although some recent fern writers have continued to call 
this an American species. When the same plant came in from St. 
Vincent collected by Smith, it was described as Acrostichum Smithit 
Baker, but it exactly matches both Fée’s figure and his type. Up 
to the time of Baron Eggers’ visit to the West Indies only one 
species of Lygodium had been described from Santo Domingo. 
_ This was figured by Plumier on plate 92 of his Traité des Fougeres, 
and from his description and plate was called Aydroglossum 
oligostachum by Willdenow. The constant habit of neglecting _ 
type localities for species led the next specimens from this island 
collected by Eggers to be described as a new species, Lygodium 
gracile Baker. In addition to Eggers’ specimen the plant had 
been collected on Santo Domingo by the botanists of the U.S 
Commission of Inquiry, sent out when annexation was being con- 
sidered, and specimens collected then are represented both in 
the U. S. National herbarium and in that of Columbia University: 
All these specimens represent one species and correspond admit- 
ably with Plumier’s plate on which Willdenow’s species was based.* 
I refer to this incident in this connection to emphasize the im- 
portance of the problem of type localities so often utterly neglected 
in systematic work among ferns. 
Naturally this undue conglomeration at Kew has led te a 
wide misconception of the extent and diversity of fern species. 
In the second edition of Synopsis Filicum we have approximately 
2,700 species of ferns described as representing ‘‘all known ferns 
up to the year 1874. To these must be added the 1,100 species 
included by Mr. Baker in his supplementary list of new species 
published in 1891, and the 565 species of other pteridophyte 
me 
* The synonymy of this species will then be: 
LYcoptum oLicosracuyum (Willd.) Desv. Ann. Soc, Linn. de Paris, 6: 205: 
fydroglossum oligostachyum Willd. Sp. Pl. 5:81. 1810. 
Lygodium gracile Baker, Jour. Bot. 26: 35. 1888. 
: The further exploration of the island of Haiti will doubtless clear Up 
teries concerning ferns based on Plumier’s plates. 
1827 
many mys~ 
