Cystopteris. | FILICES. 957 
9. CYSTOPTERIS, Bernh. 
Small membranous and flaccid ferns. Rhizome very short, 
creeping. Fronds tufted, 2~-3-pinnatifid. Veins pinnate and 
forked ; veinlets free, not anastomosing, terminating a little 
within the margin. Sori small, globose, dorsal, placed at a 
distance from the margin on the back of a vein. Indusium ovate- 
deltoid, membranous, jagged, free at the sides, inserted by a broad 
base under the sorus, and at first bent over it like a hood; 
ultimately reflexed. Sporangia numerous, stalked, girt by an 
incomplete vertical ring, bursting transversely. 
A small genus of 5 species, found in cool damp mountainous situations in 
the temperate regions of both hemispheres. The single New Zealand species 
has the range of the genus. 
1. C. fragilis, Bernh. in Schrad. New. Journ. Bot.11. 27, t. 2,£. 9.— 
Rhizome short, suberect, often branched near the top, clothed with 
red-brown lanceolate scales. Stipes 1-4in. long, slender, fragile, 
stramineous, slightly scaly at the base. Fronds 3-9 in. long, 1-2 in. 
broad, oblong-lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, thin and membranous, 
pale-green, pinnate or 2-pinnate; rhachis smooth, naked, slightly 
winged above. Primary pinne rarely more than lin. long and 
usually much less, remote, spreading, lanceolate to ovate, toothed 
or pinnatifid or again pinnate; pinnules oblong, usually deeply 
toothed or incised.. Sori 3-12 to a pinnule, medial on the veins. 
Indusium very delicate, at first covering the sorus, but soon re- 
flexed and often disappearing in age.— Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 197; 
Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. 11. 136, t. 166; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 358 ; Hook. and 
Bak. Syn. Fil. 103; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 752; Thoms. N.Z. 
Ferns, 00; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 76, t. 18, f. 5, 5a. C. tasmaniea, 
Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 199; Ic. Plant. t. 959. C. nove-zealandie, 
Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 360. C. laciniatus, Col. 
im Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxi. (1899) 265. 
Nortu Istanp: Mount Egmont, Mrs. Jones, T. F. C.; Tararua Ranges, 
Buchanan ; Wairarapa Valley, H. C. Field. Sourn Istanp: Not uncommon 
in mountain districts throughout. Usually from 1000 to 4000 ft., but descends 
almost to sea-level in several localities in the South Island. 
Almost universally distributed in the north and south temperate zones 
and on the higher mountains of the tropics, and everywhere extremely variable. 
The usual form in New Zealand has a rather narrow frond, with short and broad 
sparingly divided pinnz, and the sori are rather small... But some states are 
almost indistinguishable from the northern var. dentata. I have seen no speci- 
mens of Mr. Colenso’s C. laciniatus. 
10. LINDSAYA, Dryander. 
Usually small subcoriaceous bright-green ferns. Rhizome 
creeping or short and tufted. Fronds pinnate or 2-3-pinnatifid ; 
pinne often l-sided. Veins free, or anastomosing in a few species 
not jound in New Zealand. Sori forming a continuous or more 
