IN THE ECUADOREAX ANDES 205 



great distance from it), which has been my hunting- 

 ground for the last seven months. Though so 

 near, it would seem that a great proportion of the 

 plants are distinct. . . . 



At the foot of" Tunguragua, in dripping situations, I found a 

 small Polypodium creeping on branches which has the fronds 

 deeply sinuated so as to resemble a narrow oak-leaf. All the 

 fronds are fertile, and I take it to be nothing more than a variety 

 of a Marginaria with linear lanceolate fronds that grows near. 



A short time ago I found in a strip of forest by the Pastasa, 

 about 10 miles below Baiios, a very strange little fern with com- 

 pound fleshy fronds, looking not unlike one of the small Asplenia, 

 but completely different from that genus and its allies. The sori, 

 immersed in the margin of the frond, recall those of some 

 Davalliae, in which genus, however, the structure of the receptacles 

 seems essentially distinct. I enclose a small specimen, and if the 

 fern be really new and you would like to describe it, I will send 

 you the largest plant I have, which is about three times the si/e 

 of this one. Unfortunately, I could find the fern on only a single 

 tree, though I spent two hours in searching the neighbouring 

 trees, and my stock of it is rather small. 1 



From my letters to Mr. Bentham you will have learnt h\\ 

 much I suffered in the Montana of Canelos, on my way hither. 

 This name is popularly given to the forest from near Jiarios. where 

 the natural pastures begin, at the actual foot of the Cordillera, to 

 C'anelos on the Bombonasa. It is the finest ground for Crypto- 

 gam ia I have ever seen, but when I passed through it with 

 Indians I was obliged to lighten my cargoes by giving and throw- 

 ing away whatever I could best spare, so that I could bring no 

 plants along save a few mosses. . . . One striking feature among 

 the ferns was the number of sarmentose, or even actually climb- 

 ing, species of various genera. On the Bombonasa a true- S 

 ginella climbs into the trees to the height of 30 feet, and the 

 twining caudex sends off fronds 4 feet long; in some places it 

 forms impenetrable thickets. A handsome Marattia was a great 

 acquisition to me, as I bad not previously seen that genus grow 

 ing. Two small Asplenia. looking quite like Hymenophyllaj crepl 

 along the branches of shrubs by shady rivulets. But the most 

 remarkable plant in the forest of ('anelos is a gigantic- 1 . |iiisrtum. 

 20 feet high, and the stem nearly as thick as the \\rist ! ... It 

 extends for a distance of a mile on a plain bordering tin- 1'a-i 

 but elevated some 200 feet ab . ive it, where at every few steps one 



1 It is Davallia l.inil<>ii, Hook. Sp. . l-'il. I. p. m;. .ni<l has l>c_vn lim<i .11 

 Caraccas and' also in the Or^an Mountains <>1 lini/il. 



