OP ARTS AND SCIENCES: MAY 13, 1873. 619 



scriptione ovata, 10 - 13 poll. longa, latitudine § longitudinis, pinnati- 

 fi<la; segmentis 4-6 paribus prater terminale consimile, lanceolate, 

 3-4 poll, longis, £ poll, latis, acuminatis, subintegerrimis, basi paullo 

 angustatis, dein in alam racheos angustam utrinque dilatatis ; venulis 

 more Goniophlebii reticulatis, areolis paracostalibus magnis, soriferis, 

 ceteris minimis vel nullis ; soris oblongis, obliquis, costula? subapproxi- 

 matis. — Chiapas, Mexico, Dr. Ghiesbreght, No. 386. 



This fern is closely related to the form of Polypodium sororlum 

 which has reticulated veins, but differs considerably from that species 

 in having much fewer pinna? or segments, and the terminal one nearly 

 or quite as large as any of the others. The wing which borders the 

 rachis is continued downwards in a narrow border each side of the 

 stipe almost to its base. The fruit-dots are considerably elongated, as 

 in P. sororium and P. trilobum. 



Asplenid.m nigricans. Caudice brevi repente, paleis angustis 

 nigrescentibus onusto; stipitibus crebris, rigidis, teretibus, nudis, atro- 

 sangineis, lucidis, 4-6 uncialibus, diametro lineam fere a?quantibus ; 

 fronde opaca, nigro-fuscescente, subcoriacea, fere pedali, pinnata ; 

 pinnis utrinque 12-20 proeter terminalem angustam acuminatam, 

 pullicem longis, 3-5 lineas latis infirais triangulari-ovatis costula 

 centrali ; ceteris cultriformibus, obtusis, sursum leviter curvatis, basi 

 supeiiori rachi parallelis, inferior] linea subrecta excisis, crenato-denticu- 

 latis ; soris majusculis, infra costulam 1-3, supra earn uno vel sa?pius 

 nullo. — Chiapas, Dr. Ghiesbreght, No. 377. 



The highly polished and nearly black stipes and rachis, together with 

 the shape of the pinna) and the small number of rather large sori, 

 nearly all on the lower side of the pinna?, indicate a place for this Fern 

 not far from A. monanthemum, but in the size and comparative few- 

 ness of the pinna? the resemblance is rather to A. latum. The whole 

 frond is so dark as to be almost black, and is utterly devoid of lustre. 

 The rachis, though terete and rigid, has an exceedingly narrow brownish 

 line on each side connecting the points where the pinna? are inserted. 

 — A. nigricans of Kunze being now by general consent referred to 

 A. furcatum, this name becomes available for the present use. 



