60 



Forst. ; Asplcnium Cookii Copel. sp. nov. ; Asplcniiun Scctnm 

 (Hilleb. ) Copel. comb, nov.; Asplcnium Mirahilc Copel. sp. nov.; 

 Asplcniuyn KcphclcphyUnm Copel. nom. nov. ; Elaphoglossiim 

 Crassicaiilc Copel. sp. nov.; and Lindsaya Macracana (H. & A.) 

 Copel. comb. nov. 



Prof. Copeland mentions, besides Hillebrand's "Flora of Ha- 

 waii." a recent publication on Hawaiian ferns by W. J. Robinson. 

 The following extracts from the treatise under review should be 

 of local interest : 



''The ferns of the Hawaiian Islands have probably received 

 from Doctor W. J. Hillebrand more careful study than any man 

 has ever given to those of any other limited area in the tropics- 

 Lying as they do on a main route of the world's travel, the Ha- 

 waiian Islands have from early times been visited by many col- 

 lectors, and for this reason, as well as because of the long so- 

 journ of Doctor Hillebrand in the islands, their ferns are par- 

 ticularly well known. On the one hand, the admirable descrip- 

 tions in Doctor Hillebrand's Flora make the study of these ferns 

 easier than they would be if they came from almost any other 

 part of the tropics. On the other hand, the ferns of Hawaii con- 

 stitute in themselves a group of phenomenal difficulty. The iso- 

 lated position of the Archipelago has resulted, in several genera, 

 in the development of a flora altogether peculiar and local. Thus 

 in the ferns, we have two genera, DicUia and Sadlcrin, each with 

 a considerable number of species which have unquestionably been 

 developed locally from a common ancestor. In both cases, the 

 ancestor can be fixed with a considerable measure of certainty 

 and exactness. 



"The local development of a series of forms, which has taken 

 place in the two genera just mentioned, has taken place also in 

 the large genus Asplcnium, apparently from a number of immi- 

 grant ancestral forms, and with the result that the derived groups 

 have developed until they overlap, and the differentiation of 

 groups, and the assignment of species and forms to the different 

 groups, is only jiossible to a person who has something like the 

 complete knowledge of the flora which Doctor Hillebrand pos- 

 sessed. 



"In both Asplcnium and Sadlcria, I have ventured to describe 

 new species, and in Asplcnium I have raised some of his forms to 

 specific rank. The most of the species which I describe as new 

 in this paper are, I believe, plants which Doctor Ilillebrand had 

 not seen. It must be remarked that the Abbe Faurie is himself 

 a collector of very long experience, that he is a good student of 

 ferns, and that he devoted himself for about a year and a half 

 wholly to the collection of the Hawaiian plants. Fvcn in a land 

 where the ferns have been as well studied as in Hawaii, it would 

 be very strange if the Abbe 1 'auric had not succeeded in finding 

 a number of previously unknown ])lants. In fact, knowing as I 



