J. SMITH ON THE GENERA OF FERNS. 179 



ing from the same root, which, with many other hke exam- 

 ples, shows the care necessary to be used in determining spe- 

 cies from the examination of but few specimens. 



76. Callipteris, Bory, J. Sm. 



(Asplenii sp, Sw. and Auth. Diplazii sp. Sw. and Auth. 

 Anisogonium, Presl. "Digrammaria, Presl.) 



Veins costaeform and pinnate, each opposite pair of venules 

 angularly anastomosing, the superior ones usually free. 

 Sporaw^m bilateral, constituting binate linear sori. Indusium 

 plain. 



Fronds pinnate or bipinnatijid or bipinnate^ often viviparous^ 

 smooth, the stipes and rachis sometimes aculeate. Sori usu- 

 ally decussate. 



Examp. 1. C. prolifera, Bory. 2. C. spinulosa, (Blume). 

 3. C. accidens, {Blume.) A. C. Wallichii, J. Sm. (Asplenium 

 ambiguum. Wall.) 5. C. Malabarica, {Spreng.) (Asplenium 

 ambiguum, ^w.) Illust. Hook. gen.Jil. t. 56. A. C. 



Obs. The costaeform pinnate venation is the principal dis- 

 tinction between this genus and the preceding, and which 

 may be viewed as analogous to the venation oi Stegnogramma 

 and Goniopteris, in the tribe Polypodiece. Some portion of 

 the several forms of the large fronds of Callipteris Malabarica 

 have often few or none of the venules anastomosing ; in such 

 case it is not generically distinct from Diplaziiim. 



Presl has constituted a genus as belonging to this tribe, 

 under the name of P/ewasjM/w, including two presumed spe- 

 cies, which two species he originally described in Reliquiae 

 Ii(Bnkean<x^ as doubtful species of A^epArorfjww, viz., N. Bank- 

 sicefolium and N. Bromelicefolium. He had not seen fertile spe- 

 cimens, and he quotes Asplenium aiireum of Blume, and 

 Asplenium Graminitis of Wallich, as the same as one of these 

 species. Blume doubts his plant being an Asplenium, of 

 which I have sterile specimens, as also sterile specimens from 

 Presl of his tvvo species of Nephrodium, which are the same as 

 Blume's plant. What the Asplenium Grammitis of Wallich 

 is 1 have not been able to determine, as I do not find it in the 



