114 CIIEILANTHES CALIFORNICA. SHIELD-LIKE LIP-FERN. 



first found in California in the early part of the present century 

 by that early botanical explorer Nuttall, and the differences 

 noted by Eaton, as above cited, impressed him so strongly that 

 he named it Aspidotis Californica, from the ear-like resemblance 

 of the indusium to the PJicgoptcris section of Aspidhmi, the 

 shield-fern. As it was then the only known Californian species 

 of the o-enus, the specific name Californica was distinctive, — but 

 as the variations of ferns have become better understood, mod- 

 ern botanists have discarded the genus, uniting its species with 

 Chcilanthcs, but have retained the specific name that was origin- 

 ally given to it. The particular manner in which the genus 

 Cheilanthes varies may be understood by the following from Mr. 

 John Smith's " Historia Filicum" : " The genus consists of about 

 thirty or forty known species of slender fronded ferns, widely 

 spread through the tropics and sub-tropical regions ot both hem- 

 ispheres. They vary considerably in size, and the divisions of 

 the fronds, as also in the indusium, being of various forms, 

 w^iich, in some cases, might be considered sufficient to be of 

 generic value, but as it often varies in form in the same species, 

 it cannot be viewed as of more than specific value. In some 

 it is a disdnct, round, inflexed crenule, containing on its axis a 

 single receptacle ; in others it is oblong, or more or less elon- 

 gated, containing two or more receptacles, in some it is straight, 

 in others it is crenulated and wavy." These variations, however, 

 serve very well to divide the genus into distinct divisions, and 

 though Aspidotis is no longer a generic name, its relative Aspi- 

 dopsis is employed to designate that section of CJiedanthes which 

 has the indusium nearly round — like an aspidion or little shield, 

 as seen in our Fig. 2 — and special to each cluster of sporangia; 

 and as our species is the only one of that section, we have sug- 

 gested for it the common name of Shield-like Lip-Fern instead 

 of Californian Lip-Fern, as it is designated in some catalogues. 

 As noted by Professor Eaton, it will probably be found much 

 more widely distributed than it is generally believed to be. It 

 has been received by the writer of this from several correspond- 



