164 MR. T. S. RALPH ON THE 



C. Smithii, whose delicate spreading fronds of brighter green 

 are mounted on a stem which is furnished with a wiry fibrous 

 structure, and whose top is adorned (?) with the remains of the 

 stipites of dead fronds, hanging closely to the stem, from sixty to 

 seventy in number, but all divested of the pinnae. This is what 

 may be seen in the bush when uninjured by the action of violent 

 winds. Thus much for a glance at these species ; a more detailed 

 account I now give, from investigations carried on uninterruptedly 

 during three months. 



C. dealhata (White or Silver Fern) presents two or perhaps 

 three forms ; but the characters are scarcely marked enough to 

 make out so many varieties. One state of the fern is marked by 

 the frond being furnished with sori well within the margin, thus 

 giving the appearance of a broader pinna, &c. ; another form 

 appears to be characterized by a more delicate frond ; while a 

 third is a coarse or hard-fronded form, with a yellowish hue along 

 the upper side of the main and partial rachis, and which is per- 

 ceptible at a distance — the pinnules are also inclined to curl 

 inwards at the margins : this may be termed the full-fruited form, 

 as the sori are very abundant. 



No decided character can be drawn from the persistence of the 

 bases of the dead fronds. I have seen these stipital remains cover- 

 ing a stem (of C dealhata) from top to bottom, in others halfway 

 up, in some on one side only ; seldom, however, is the stem entirely 

 bare, but a wiry fibrous structure (aerial rootlets) issues out and 

 covers it more completely. When this tree-fern has attained some 

 size, the base gradually enlarges by the addition of these fibres, till 

 it reaches perhaps a foot and a half in diameter. The greatest 

 height to which it seems to attain is about 24 feet. The fronds 

 vary from 8 feet to 12 feefc in length and from 2 feet to 3 feet in 

 breadth, and they spring out nearly horizontally from the crown. 



Although the fronds are so beautifully white underneath, it is 

 almost impossible at times, even in open places, to be sure one 

 sees a white-fronded fern ; but a blow from a stick or a wave of 

 the wind is necessary, to tarn but a little portion of the frond, in 

 order to satisfy the observer that it is white beneath. 



G. medullaris (Mamaku, or Mamagu of the natives. Black 

 Fern of the settlers). — This fern may be recognized at a very early 

 stage of its growth, and before any trunk has been developed, by 

 the general form and texture of the young frond. The main rachis 

 is usually of a very dark-brown or black colour. When it has 

 formed a stem, it will be observed that these black stipites are 



