217 



269 



not a few of the forms in Ind. Fil. referred to D. reticulata being valid species. Met- 

 TENius (Fil. Leschl. II. 21 — 25) has given a review of the species known till 1859; 

 and I can, as far as I know the species, fully agree with his treatment. Since 

 then several species have been described, and below I describe two others as new, the 

 first of these being an interesting intermediate between the true species of Meniscium 

 and D. meniscioides belonging to Goniopteris. 



268. Dryopteris ensiformis n. sp. — Fig. 46. 



Type from Costa Rica: Lisières des pâturages à La Palma, 1459m, leg. Ad. 

 ToNDUz nr. 12533 (C). 



Rhizomate? Stipitibus ad basin 2 cm crassis, ad 1 m longis, glabris. Lamina 

 visa incompleta, pinnata, omnino glabra, coriacea, brunneo-viridi. Pinnis inter se 

 6 cm remotis, ensiformibus, 30 — 35 cm longis, ad 5 cm latis, apice caudata, basi ab- 

 rupte rotundata, subcordata subsessilibus, infra aërophoro instructa (?); marginibus 

 irregulariter repandulis, cartilagineis. Venis secundariis 4 mm 

 circiter inter se remotis, curvatis, tertiariis simplicibus, 10 — 12- 

 jugis, omnibus more Meniscii anastomosantibus; radiis late clavatis, 

 liberis vel saepe omnibus confluentibus venam venis secundariis 

 paralellam formantibus. Soris parvis, atrorufis, in venis medialibus, 

 rotundis, raro confluentibus, exindusiatis. Sporangia receptaculisque 

 glabris. 



This new species is a peculiar fern, in general habit a Me- 

 niscium, but in venation and sori not unlike D. meniscioides, from 

 which it differs by the much closer secondary and tertiary veins 

 and by the subcordate base of the pinnæ, which have nearly the 

 same breadth from base to short of the apex. It also resembles 

 D. (MenisciumJ Andreana (Sod.) C. Chr., which in sori is a true 

 Meniscium. The most remarkable features of our new species are 

 1) the presence of an aërophore, 2) the edges of the pinnæ and 

 3) the venation. Ad 1). At the insertion of the costæ is to be 

 found a large, blackbrown spot, which evidently is the scar of a 

 fallen aërophore. Ad 2). The pinnæ are bordered by a broad, car- 

 tilagineous line. Ad. 3). The excurrent veinlet formed by two 

 anastomosing veins is always much longer than found in other 

 species of Meniscium ; often it reaches nearly to the next cross- 

 vein and then ends in a broad clavate apex, in which a brown, 

 oblong pellucid spot is seen on the upperside; but often the 

 veinlet is continued to the next cross-vein and the veinlets between 

 two secondary veins then together form a continued vein parallel 

 to the secondary veins. In this case the veinlets are thickened above the middle 

 and enclose a brown pellucid spot as described, above which they again narrow. 



n. K. n. Vidensk. Selsk Skr., 7 Række, nuturvidensk. o}* niathem. .\t'd. X. 2. *'•* 



Fig. 46. Fragments of 

 D. ensiformis n. sp. 

 seen from both sur- 

 faces X VI-2. 



