446 



Transactions. — Botany. 



Fig. 34. — Orthotrichum arctum. 



1. Capsule. 



2. Calyptra. 



3. Inner perichsetial leaf. 



4. Upper stem leaf. 



5. Lower stern leaf. 



3. Inner perichsetial leaf. 



4. Outer perichsetial leaf. 



5. Upper stem leaf. 



6. Middle stem leaf. 



Fig. 36. — Orthotrichum latifolium. 

 1. Capsule. 



Art. LV. — On the Growth of Ferns ; and on a Neiv Fern 



now first reported. 



By H. C. Field. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 17th October, 1894.] 



On the 2nd March I received a letter from Mr. James 

 Patterson, of the Thames, informing me that some miles 

 inland, and at an elevation of 1,725ft. above sea-level, he had 

 found a tree-trunk covered to the height of 12ft. or 14ft. by 

 an Asplcnmm, which climbed by means of fleshy creeping 

 rhizomes similar to those of Polypodium billardieri. He also 

 stated that he had found what he believed to be the same 

 variety close to the coast, and at an altitude of only about 

 50ft. As no such widely-cieeping Asplenium had been re- 

 ported in the colony I was naturally interested in the dis- 

 covery, and a few days later I received a parcel of specimens 

 of the fern. On inspecting them I found that their long, 

 straight sori, and the peculiar dark bluish-green colour of the 



