BY W. W. WATTS. 775 



Bailey told me he had not seen specimens of this fern from North 

 Queensland. Domin found it at Harvey's Creek and Lake Eacham. 

 It has a wide Indo-Malayan range. 



A s P I D I u M Sw. 

 A. MuELLERi C. Chr.; A. conjliiens Mett., non Fee. 



Very plentiful by creeks throughout the Cairns Hinterland. 

 Some of my best specimens were obtained near the "Crossing" at 

 Malanda. Domin sets up two forms (f. simplicius and f. decom- 

 positiim), and figures an intermediate form on p. 55. The species 

 shows so many variations in the leaf-form, that it hardly seems 

 worth while to attempt to distinguish them by exact definition. A. 

 Muelleri is one of the most beautiful and striking of the ferns of 

 North Queensland, and a handsome addition to the bushhouse. 



In Domin'si opinion, there is no need to change Mettenius' 

 name, seeing that Fee's J., confluens is a doubtful species; but this 

 is surely an insufficient reason for ignoring Fee's nomenclature, 

 and I have, therefore, followed Christensen (Index). 



POLYSTICHUM Roth. 



P. coNiiFOLiUM Presl. 



In scrub, Ravenshoe, Herberton district; Dr. Joynt, Aug., 1913. 

 (Herb. Watts) : Herberton district; Waller, 1908 (Hb., Syd.). 



Dr. Joynt brought in but a single frond of this fern, which I at 

 first regarded as P. aristatum (Forst) . According to Domin, the 

 main difference between P. aristatum and P. coniifolium is, that 

 the former has a creeping, and the latter a tufted, rhizome; he 

 believes that the Australian specimens belong mostly to P. coniifo- 

 lium. According to Van A. van Rosenb., the scales of P. aristatum 

 are hair-like, or more or less setiform, while those of P. coniifo- 

 lium are long-linear-lanceolate. In that case. Dr. Joynt's speci- 

 men is P. coniifolium. 



P. FRAGILE, sp.nov. (Plate Ixxxviii., fig.9,a-^). 

 Epiphyticum, ' spectabile. Bhizoma crassum, repens, paleis 

 brunneis ad 1-5 cm, longis anguste et flexuose acuminatis dense 



