342 Alexander IT'. Evans, 



plicate for the greater part of its length, both lateral and postical 

 keels being sharp (Fig. 11, J). The antical surface is either plane 

 or else bears a low and short keel in the upper part. 



The antheridial spikes occupy entire branches and are infrequently 

 produced. They are unusuall}' small, being completely covered 

 over by the leaves, and commonly arise on a female branch. Each 

 spike bears two or three pairs of closely imbricated, strongly in- 

 flated, subequally bifid bracts, the divisions being acute or apic- 

 ulate and entire, except for the very minute stylus on the inner 

 margin of the lobule. The bracteoles are small and shortly bifid. 



In Fndlania teiraptera Nees &Mont. ^ and F. semiconnata Lindenb. 

 & Gottsche,^ the present species has two very close allies. F. teirap- 

 tera was based on specimens collected by d'Orbigny at Valparaiso, 

 Chile, and has since been recorded from Rusby's Bolivian collections 

 by Spruce. F. semiconnata was based on material gathered by 

 Liebmann at Chinantla, Mexico. It has since been reported by 

 Gottsche from the vicinity of Bogota, Colombia, by Spruce from 

 near Quito, Ecuador, and by Jack and Stephani from Argentina. 

 In his latest treatment of the genus Fntllania, however, Stephani 

 reduces F. semiconnata to a synonym of F. tetraptera and states that 

 the species is common in tropical America and in Chile. Strange 

 to say, on a later page of the same work, he quotes F. tetraptera 

 as a synonym of F. gibbosa, so that his views on the subject are 

 not altogether clear. Spruce calls attention to the fact that F. 

 semiconnata is essentially a weed in the regions where he observed 

 it, growing particularly on the bark of apple trees. 



Of F. semiconnata the writer has examined a portion of the 

 type specimen in the Lindenberg herbiirium at Vienna and also the 

 abundant material collected by Pringle at Cima, Federal District. 

 Mexico, and distributed in his Plantae Mexicanae {No. 10.080). 

 No material of F. tetraptera has been available for study. The 

 Mexican specimens of F. semiconnata were determined by Stephani 

 and show both male and female branches in large number. Un- 

 fortunately these seem to be borne on separate individuals, so 

 that the material is dioicous rather than autoicous as the descriptions 

 demand. Since the type specimen is clearly autoicous, there is 

 a possibihty of error in the determination of Pringle's plants. His 

 material is evidently very close to F. laxiflora but differs in the 

 following particulars: the plants are smaller, the lobes of the leaves 



1 Ann. des Sc. Is'at. J3ol. li. \) : ^j. iS.iS. 

 - G. L. & N. Syn. Hep. 776. 1847. 



