the upper divisions are more or less perfectly midribbed ; the ultimate ra- 

 muli narrower and ribless. The ramifjcation is distichous, and more or less 

 pinnate, the pinnee in 3-4 series, all naked at base, and pinnated only in the 

 upper half. The axils are narrow and sharp, and the branches erect. The 

 cydocarps, nearly the size of poppy -seed, are marginal, and formed in 

 abundance on the fertile specimens : they are very convex, nearly spherical, 

 constricted at base. The colour is a deep blood-red, either preserved or 

 becoming darker in drying; when exposed to the air it brightens, and may 

 become scarlet or orange if the exposure be continued. The substance is 

 very rigid and horny, and in drying the plant does not adhere to paper. 



This most resembles a dwarf and densely branched state of 

 A. australis (Plate XIII.), but essentially differs, besides other 

 characters, in the external, marginal cystocarps, so distinct in 

 appearance (though not in essential structure) from the imwersed 

 cystocarps of A, australis and other species. There is also a 

 striking resemblance in habit to Nizymenia australis (see Plate 

 CLXV.) ; but tlie frond in our present plant is never so broad, 

 and is generally more densely branched ; and the Nizymenia 

 wants the axile filament which is found in all species of Are- 

 scliougia. A cross section of a branch therefore will always enable 

 the student to determine which of these two similar-looking 

 plants he has got hold of. 



Fig. 1. Areschougia conferta. 2. Part of a frond in fruit : — both of the 

 noiural size. Fig. 3. A branchlet, in fruit. 4. Vertical section of a con- 

 ceptacle. 5. Cross section of the frond : — magnified. 



