BY WALTER W. WATTS. 259 



This fern is certainly distinct from P. adiantiformr (capeiise), 

 which has a creeping- rhizome, a Hrmer and more persistent indu- 

 sium, and other distinguishing characters. P. adiantiforme must 

 now be removed from the flora of Lord Howe Island. 



ii. Dryopteris. 



D. apicalis, D. neplirodioides, and D. decomposila have been 

 recorded from the Island, the first two as indigenous. D. apicalis 

 is very rare. I did not tind it during my many excursions to dif- 

 ferent parts of the Island, but Mr. Oliver has sent me a specimen 

 of what certainly appears to be this species. I am not quite sure 

 that there has not been some confusion between D. apicalis and i>. 

 nephrodioides. The latter is described (H. B. Syn., p. 266) as hav- 

 ing the rhaehis smooth on the under side, and the sori solitary on 

 the anterior side of each lobe; while D. apicalis is said {ibid., p. 

 499) to have the rhaehis ''glanduloso-pilose," and the sori at the 

 sinuses of the lobes. The specimens labelled D. nephrodioides in 

 the National Herbarium, Sydney, however, scarcely have a smooth 

 rhaehis, and the placing of the sori is not always easy to distin- 

 guish with certainty. Christensen (Index Fil.) regards D. nephro- 

 dioides as a variety of D. decomposita, but, as the late Mr. Betche 

 remarked, in an Herbarium note, he cannot have seen a specimen. 

 Both D. apicalis and D. nephrodioides must stand for the present, 

 but I have not seen an undoubted specimen of D. decomposita from 

 the Island. 



iii. Marattia. 



The Marattia of Lord Howe Island deserves closer study. Domin, 

 in his "Beitriige," regards it as J/, fraxinea simply, and denies it 

 rank even as var. salicina (Sm.), under which name I previously 

 recorded it. But, after seeing and examining many specimens of 

 M. fraxinea in North Queensland, I am convinced that the var. 

 salicina, in which the sori are much less numerous, considerably 

 larger, and more medial than marginal, ought to stand. Both the 

 Lord Howe fern and that of North Queensland are growing in my 

 bush-house, and the differences, in the young forms, are most 

 marked. 



