78 26 



20. Stigmatopteris opaca (Bak.) C. Chr. comb. nov. 



Syn. Menisciuin opacum Baker, Journ. Bot. 1877: 166; Sod. Cr. vase. quit. 390. 

 Dryopteris Christii C. Chr. Index 257, 1905. 



Type from Ecuador, leg. Sodiro (authentical specimens in C!). 



Closely allied to St. alloëoptera, resembling it in size and its broad partly de- 

 currenl pinnæ, differing by its thick texture, meniscioid venation and confluent 

 sori. By these characters it resembles very much species of Meniscium, to which 

 genus or subgenus it was hitherto referred. A minute examination of a specimen 

 will, however, clearly show great differences between it and species of Meniscium, 

 and further that it is in nearly all characters a true Stigmatopteris. The lamina 

 is distinctly pellucido-punctate, simple hairs are wanting but rachis and costæ 

 beneath are sparsely clothed with small, reddish scales similar to those of other 

 species of Stigmatopteris. The veins anastomose richly but not so regularly as in 

 species of Meniscium, and the outer veinlets do not reach the margin but end in a 

 clavate apex in the parenchyma; in Meniscium the outer veinlets always are 

 united with the thickened margin. The sori are large and generally confluent as 

 in Meniscium. 



21. St. caudata (Raddi) C. Chr. 1. c. 302 fig. 12. 

 Area: South Brazil. 



22. St. ichtiosma (Sod.) C. Chr. 1. c. 302 fig. 13. 

 Area: Ecuador-Colombia. Cuba, Jamaica. 



Additional synonyms: Polypodium dentatum Bak. Ann. Bot. 5: 456, 1891. 



Dryopteris longipetiolata C. Chr. Index 275, 1905. 



Baker's proposed new species, founded on a part of a leaf gathered in Ecuador 

 by SoDiRO (Kew!), is absolutely identical with Sodiro's species. Sodiro remarks 

 (Cr. vase. quit. 642) that Baker's species does not exist in his herbarium, and he 

 believes that it may be his Nephrodium crinitum ß glaucescens, 1. c. 251. Il must 

 be granted that it is impossible from Baker's description to see, what his species 

 may be; he compares it with P. decussatum and P. rude{l), which species St. ichti- 

 osma is not at all related to. N. crinitum Sod. with its variety are forms of D. sub- 

 marginalis. 



23. St. contracta (Christ) C. Chr. 1. c. 304, fig. 14. 

 Area: Costa Rica. 



24. St. pellucido-punctata C. Chr. 1. c. 304, fig. 15. 



Type from Peru, Tarapoto, Mt. Guayrapurima. Spruce nr. 4720 (Kew!) A 

 very large species, but bipinnatifid only. Stipe 1 cm. tliick, rather scaly; pinnæ 

 up to 45 cm. long, 7 cm. broad. 



