168 MB. T. S. BALPH ON THE 



light : pinnae 20-22 pairs, springing from the upper rounded sur- 

 face ; lower short and erect ; middle ones gradually assuming 

 the horizontal position. Veins simply pinnate in barren fronds, 

 forked in fertile ones. Indusium truly cup-shaped, open above, 

 and protruding the compactly arranged sporangia to double the 

 distance ; they are covered by it below ; receptacle large and 

 club-shaped. I believe the cup never covers the sporangia. The 

 main rachis is brownish, channeled above, rough beneath with 

 minute points, the sides being covered at their early stage with 

 soft scales or paleae, as also are the partial ones. Warty scars 

 situated hetween the pinnae and on the sides of the rachis. 



Note. This fern wants the characteristic sudden acuminate 

 point of the pinnae, so remarkable in the other three species. 



I first noticed this species springing from a trunk which had 

 been buried in the side of a gully by the falling in of the soft 

 upper soil ; and it had formed a stem 6 feet high, rising up at a 

 right angle from the stem. I subsequently noticed many other 

 specimens both of this species and of G. dmningJiamii similarly 

 circumstanced. 



I have sent with the stem-sections some natural skeletons of 

 the stem of Oyathea medullaris, which may be of service to com- 

 pare with some geological remains. I think it is evident also 

 that the natives of New Zealand have taken their scroll-like orna- 

 ments, in their houses, &c., from the gyrate fronds of the large 

 ferns, and also from the curious markings on the long scars of 

 the stems when they have decayed off the cellular substance. 

 These stems were in use as fencing, round their paas or villages. 

 (See ' Illustrations of New Zealand Scenery,' &c.) 



Dicksonia antarctica. — This tree-fern is getting scarce about 

 Wellington, while D. squarrosa seems to be met with rather 

 more freely. A specimen of a stem, which I have sent, was part 

 of one 5 feet high. There was another which stood by, 12 or 15 

 feet in height ; but I had not the heart to cut it down. The lowest 

 part of this last was hard and fibrous, and very different from 

 the specimen sent ; but the upper half was so soft, that I could 

 impress it easily with my fingers. The lower portions had become 

 hardened, partly from the decay of the very soft woolly substance 

 which exists so abundantly at the bases of the stipites, and also 

 from the increase in size of the root-like fibres which penetrate 

 the woolly portion. This woolly substance, of a beautiful auburn 

 colour, serves to retain a great amount of moisture around the 

 rootlets which emerge from between the stipites, and facilitates 



