240 MR. A. C. SEWARD AND MISS S. O. FORD ON 
The sporangia of Todea barbara are sometimes described as covering the under surface 
of the fertile segments without separation into definite sori. Several authors describe the 
sporangia as forming thick rows along the secondary veins, and assuming the form of 
single oval or forked sori*; the linear sori are, however, occasionally confluent and 
form a continuous mass of sporangia. A reference to many of the published figures of 
fertile pinnze serves to illustrate the common occurrence of the sori, and the examples 
represented in Pl. 27. figs. 2, 8, & 5 afford good instances of the grouping of the 
sporangia in well-defined and regular clusters. The sporangia of the Osmundacee 
may be described as comparatively large and spherical with a short and thick stalk; 
the annulus, of the usual leptosporangiate type, is replaced by a group of thicker-walled 
cells a short distance below the apex; the dehiscence is vertical. Bower Tt has pointed 
out that the sporangia of T. barbara contain more spores than those of the filmy species 
T. superba and T. hymenophylloides. 
TODEA SUPERBA 
(Pl. 28. figs. 14, 18, 19, 21, 23; Pl. 29. figs. 29, 30, 31, 32, 35; Pl. 30. fig. 41) 
and TODEA HYMENOPHYLLOIDES 
(Pl. 28. figs. 15, 17, 20, 24, 25; Pl. 29. figs. 28, 37; Pl. 30. figs. 43, 41, 
46, 47, 48, 49). 
1854. Todea superba, Hooker, Icon. Plant. vol. vi. (n. s.) t. 910. 
1842. Todea hymenophylloides, Hooker, Gen. Fil. pl. 46 s. 
1837. Todea pellucida, Hooker (= T. hymenophylloides), Icon. Plant. vol. i. t. 8. 
The synonymy of the filmy species need not be given at length or discussed; there is 
a close agreement as regards the shape of the frond between the various forms described 
under different specific names. A comparison of the published figures of filmy Todeas 
and of Herbarium specimens convinces us that the form of the pinnules and the degree 
of dissection of the lamina are characters to which too much importance has been 
attached as diagnostic features. 
References to illustrations of filmy forms are given in the footnote t. The most 
striking differences between Todea barbara and such species as 7’. superba, T. hymeno- 
phylloides, &c., are connected with the filmy $ habit, as expressed in the much more 
slender lamina, the absence of stomata and intercellular spaces. The filmy species are 
characterized also by their smaller size; the sporangia on the fertile segments are less 
numerous, usually forming a small group confined to the basal part of the pinnule; but 
occasionally, as in specimens of T. Fraseri from the Blue Mountains, the sporangia 
almost cover the whole of the lower surface of the delicate lamina. 
* Carist (1897); Smith (1875); Hooker & Baker (1868) ; Prantl (1875), &c. 
t Bower (1899), p. 38, &c. 
= Hooker, Icon, Plant, 1831, pl. 101 ; ibid. 1837, pl.8; ibid. 1854, pl. 910 ; Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1870, p. 795, 
fig. 148; unm 1886, p. 752 ; L'Illust. Hort. vol. xxvii. 1870, pl. 38; ibid. 1876, pl. 270; Hooker, Gen. Fil. 1842, 
pl. 46; Field, Ferns of New Zealand, pls. 4 & 21 (1890). i e 
$ See Boodle (1900), p. 484. 
