1012 FILICES. [Polypodiwm. 
6. P. serpens, Yorst. Prodr. n. 435.—Rhizome long, creeping, 
branched, climbing up the trunks of trees or over rocks, clothed 
with lanceolate long-acuminate ferruginous scales. Stipites remote, 
4-3 in. long, firm, erect, jointed on the top of a scaly prolongation 
of the rhizome. Fronds dimorphous, simple, entire or obscurely 
sinuate, very thick and coriaceous, dark-green or yellow-green, 
glabrous or nearly so above, beneath densely clothed with whitish 
or buff-coloured stellate scales; sterile fronds variable in size and 
shape, 1-3 or even 4 in. long, 4-1 in. broad, obovate-spathulate or 
elliptical-spathulate to nearly orbicular, obtuse; fertile longer and 
narrower, 2-6 in. long, 4-# in. broad, linear-oblong or linear-lanceo- 
late, obtuse or subacute, gradually tapering into the stipes. Veins 
quite hidden in the substance of the frond, copiously anastomosing. 
Sori very copious, irregularly scattered, large, prominent, often con- 
fined to the upper part of the frond, usually confluent in age.— 
Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 849; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 767; Thoms. 
N.Z. Ferns, 89; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 140, t.6,£.9. P. rupestre, &. Br. 
Prodr. 136; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 381; Hook. Sp. Fil. v. 46. 
P. stellatum, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 64. Niphobolus rupestris,. 
Spreng. Syst. Veg. iv. 44; Hook. and Grev. Ic. Ful. t. 93; A. Cunn. 
Precur. n. 178; Raoul, Chvix, 37; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 44. 
N. bicolor, Kaulf. Enum. Ful. 128; Hook. and Grev. Ic. Fil. t. 443. 
A. Cunn. Precur.n.179. N.serpens, Endl. Prodr. Ins. Norfolk, 8. 
KERMADEC ISLANDS, NortTH aND SovutH Istanps, STEWART ISLAND, 
CHatHaM Is~tanps: Abundant throughout. Sea-level to 3500 ft. 
Plentiful in eastern Australia, also found in Norfolk Island and several of 
the Pacific islands. 
7. P. Cunninghamii, Hook. Sp. Fil. vy. 58.—Rhizome small, 
short, knot-like, densely clothed with brownish lanceolate scales, 
emitting woolly rootlets, some of which creep and produce new 
tufts of fronds. Fronds tufted at the top of the rhizome, 4-12 in. 
long, 2-2 in. broad, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acuminate, very 
gradually narrowed to the base or to a short stipes, quite entire, 
bright-green, rather fleshy but hardly coriaceous, quite glabrous ; 
midrib stout, evident. Veins hidden in the substance of the frond, 
anastomosing, forming elongated hexagonal areoles without included 
free veinlets. Sori large, broadly oblong or rounded, prominent, 
rather far apart, in a single row on each side of the frond, nearer 
the midrib than the margin.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 381; Hook. 
and Bak. Syn. Fu. 354; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 89; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 
141, t. 15, f. 5. P. attenuatum, A. Rich. Fl. Now. Zel. 62; A.. 
Cunn. Precur. n. 173; Raoul, Choix, 37; Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 409 
(not of R. Br.). Dictymia lanceolata, J. Sm. im Bot. Mag. vol. 72, 
Suppl. 16; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 43. Dictyopteris lanceolata,. 
J. Sm. Gen. Ferns, 64. 
