BY \V. WALTER WATTS. 399 



The idea of a hybrid seems out of the question. The typical 

 A. hulbiferuiii does not grow on the Island, and the form 

 " A " is to be found at different points, propagating itself 

 with definite characters. I have, therefore, decided to pre- 

 sent it as a variety of A. bulbiferiim, as follows: — 



ASPLENIUM BULBIFERUM Forst., Var. HOWEANUM Watts, 



var. nov. 



Growing in crevices of water-washed rocks in creeks : very 

 flaccid; stem very short. Differs from the type in its softer 

 and more herbaceous texture, its dark-green colour, its 

 shorter and wider scales, its smaller and more obtuse fronds, 

 its shorter pinnae (seldom more than 3 inches long), its obtuse 

 and scarcely divided pinnules, only the lower ones cut down 

 to the winged rhachis, but especially in its elongated, narrow, 

 marginal sori, giving it a pteroid appearance, and suggesting 

 affinity to A . pferuJioides Baker, from which, however, it 

 differs in its habitat, habit, and structure, in the shape of its 

 spores, and in other characters. 



Dinner Run, eastern slope of Mt. Lidgbird ; Run on top of 

 Mt. Gower, etc.: leg. W. W. Watts, July- Aug., 1911. There 

 are also specimens in the Sydney Herbarium, collected by 

 Mr. J. H. Maiden, in 1898, and labelled A. pferidioides 

 Baker. 



An especially beautiful fern was collected by Mr. J. H. 

 Maiden, Director of the Botanical Gardens, Sydney, in 1898, 

 among the rocks on the western side of the Island, at the 

 mouth of Soldier's Creek : and some notes concerning it were 

 afterwards published by him in these Proceedings (1898, Ft. 

 ii, p. 146). 



According to Mr. Maiden's notes, the fern had been col- 

 lected by Mr. E. King, on the eastern side of Mt. Lidgbird, 

 and sent by Mr. Chas. Moore, Director of the Sydney Gar- 

 dens, to Dr. H. Christ, who, in a letter received in 1896, 

 named it Aspidium ani/eafum var. Aloorei Chr., and des- 

 cribed it briefly in Latin. Mr. Maiden printed the descrip- 

 tion (loc. cit.), and added that, when King saw the fern. 



