Colenso. — On the Ferns of Neiv Zealand. 233 



" rliachis slight!)/ scaly, involucre firm, distinctly rmiform" etc. 

 To which I would add Moore's remark on N. tuberosa: " Indu- 

 siuni rmiform affixed by its oblique arcuate base;" which, also, 

 his figure of it shows. ("Ind. ML," p. xc. ; tab. 72, b. 5.) All 

 those characters do not agree with these of this species (vide 

 descr.), besides other positive important ones peculiar to it. 

 Lowe (I.e.) gives no less than eight plates of as many distinct 

 species of Nephrolepis, all differing from this one ; the nearest, 

 however, of them to it is N. pectinata, Schott (tab. 18,) but only 

 in a distant resemblance. I notice this species is made by 

 Baker (I.e.) a var. ft of N. tuberosa, Presl. 



III. As the species of Nephrolepis described by Sir J. D. 

 Hooker* is in the same characters (abbreviated) as in " Sp. Ml." 

 (supra), it is, of course, a different species from this one, and it 

 was obtained from a very different locality in New Zealand ; so 

 we now possess two (or more) species of this small genus t ; 

 three (or more) species are known from Australia. 



Genus 22. Polypodium, Linn. 



1. P. (Goniopteris) subsimilis, sp. nov. 



Caudex erect, 1 foot to 1 foot 6 inches high, rather slender, 

 coalescent. Vernation fasciculate, many fronds together, sub- 

 erect, free, spreading. Stipes 2-3 inches long, rather slender, 

 very scaly ; scales large, ovate, cordate, peltate, obtuse, brown, 

 2-3 lines long, with large hexagonal cells. Fronds 10-12 

 (rarely 16) inches long, 4 inches broad at middle, oblong-lan- 

 ceolate, pinnate, membranaceous, dull-green blotched with red, 

 somewhat glossy above in a longitudinal line along centre of 

 pinnre, rhachis slender, deeply channelled above, reddish, very 

 hairy (also sub-rhachises, costae, and veins) ; hairs short, with 

 scattered broadly- ovate adpressed brown scales on rhachis, sub- 

 rhachises, and veins below ; pinnte petiolate, free, opposite, 

 rather distant, horizontal, spreading, sub-linear-lanceolate, 2 

 inches long, 4 lines wide, broadest at base, tips acuminate, acute ; 

 pinnatifid, cut f rds to sub-rhachis ; lobes narrow-oblong, obtuse ; 

 margins entire, slightly cartilaginous, ciliate ; cilias red ; the 

 basal pair of lobes on sub-rhachises much larger and pinnatifid, 

 their veins bipinnate ; the lowest 3-5 pairs of pinnae much 

 .shorter and broader, ovate, obtuse, 1 - li inches long, f inch 

 wide at base, each pair about 1 inch apart on rhachis. Veins 

 prominent below, pinnate, simple, usually 7 - 8 pairs in a lobe 

 (5-6 pairs only in the lobes of lower short pinnae), the lowest 

 veinlet uniting with the opposite one and both sending out a 



* " Handbook N.Z. Flora," p. 379. 



t Sir W. J. Hooker gives six species (" Sp. FiL") ; Baker gives seven 

 (" Syn. FiL") ; Lowe (aB we have seen) gives plates of eight, and mentions 

 others ; and J. Smith (" Hist. FiL") gives twelve species of Nephrolepis. 



