ili. 



GENEBA OP FEBNS: 



(1.) Fructifications thy rsiform ... 



|| || Ring more or less obliquely vertical, nearly com- 

 plete, narrow; spore-cases crowded, sessile or TVlKo o 

 sub-sessile, oblique-laterally compressed or sub- 

 compressed, bursting horizontally . . . . UYATHEINEJE. 



[A] Sori involucrate, i.e., indusia inferior ; (recep- 



tacles elevated) 



1- 



... Thyrsopterideae. 



2. 

 (2.) Fructifications dorsal CyatheaB. 



[B] Sori naked, i.e., without indusia ; (receptacles 3. 

 elevated) AlsopMleaB. 



II II II Ring sub-oblique, nearly complete, broad; spore- 

 cases few, sessile, gibbous, bursting horizontally. 



(Rigid flabelliform gleichenoid ferns, with 



dorsal oligocarpous sori, covered by um- Tribe 3. 



bonato-hemispherical peltate indusia) ... Iff ATONINE JE . 



|| || || || Ring horizontally or rarely obliquely trans- 

 verse, complete; spore-cases sessile or sub-sessile, 

 usually vertically compressed, bursting longitu- 

 dinally, i.e., vertically 



[A] Ring zonal, i.e., spore-cases girt by the ring. 



(1) Sori dorsal; (fronds rigid opaque with oligo- 

 carpous sori, and globose-pyriform spore- Tribe 4. 



cases) GLEICHENINE.E. 



(2) Sori extrorse-marginal ; (fronds usually pel- 



lucid membranaceous, with polycarpous sori Tribe 5. 



and lenticular spore-cases) TBICHOMANINEJE . 



[B] Ring apical, i.e., spore-cases crowned by the 



convergent striae of the ring=radiate- 

 striate at the apex 



(1) Strise united at the apex, without any vacant 



space, (spore-cases attached laterally); scan- 

 dent plants 



(2) Striee disjoined, forming an orbicular apical 



vacuity, (spore-cases attached basally) ; 

 dwarf herbaceous plants 



|| || || || Ring rudimentary, or incomplete (wanting one- 

 third or more ); very broad, flat obliquely verti- 

 cal; spore-cases sessile or sub-sessile, globose. 



Tribe 6. 

 SCHIZ2EINEJE. 



I- 



Lygodiese. 



2. 



Schizaeese. 



(Aquatic annual proliferous ferns, with Tribe 7. 



contracted fertile fronds) ... CERATOPTERIDINE.E. 



