282 C. SKOTTSBERG 



fern ' [dg. 21 1; see above p. 223); it was at that time supposed to be circum- 

 polar, but is replaced in S. America by /\ DiagclUmicum. As mentioned above, 

 I believe that if a t>enus Syiiaimiiia with PolypodiiDii Feuillei 2,s the typical species 

 is acce{)ted, the endemic P. i>iier)iiedin)n finds its place with this, but I fail to see 

 why Coi'KLANi) y6S) regards .V. Ju'uil/ii di^ "clearly Antarctic", whereas the nearly 

 relatetl CofiiophUhiuDi is called "a northern genus". Of the remaining species 

 P. Masafiicrae and P. (Xij)ho|)teris) trichouajioidcs are neotropical and P. (Pleo- 

 peltis) lajiceolatio)! pantropical but not reported from Australia and not indicating 

 an Antarctic origin. 



We have no good reason to look for an Antarctic ancestry of Elaphoglossmn, 

 though C'()ii;i,.\M) thinks that it "may have come from the south" {dj. 185), and 

 P. Li)idi)iii is a neotropical species. 



The species of Gleichoiia occurring in Juan Fernandez belong to Sticherus, 

 a genus segregated by some modern authors; 11 species are scattered over the 

 austral zone, and in Cotkland's opinion Gleicheniaceae are "obviously and en- 

 tirely of Antarctic ancestry" (<5^. 26), or "entirely Antarctic at some stage of its 

 histor}- ' [dy. 173); how this should be explained I cannot tell unless he means 

 that the family characters first evolved in the Antarctic, secondary centres of 

 evolution having become established in the tropics. The genetic relations between 

 the species inhabiting the three sectors (see above p. 224) should be studied. 

 Meanwhile I shall refer the 5 species occurring in southern S. America to the 

 Antarcto-tertiary element. 



The Ophioglossaceac are an ancient family, "scattered with remarkable uni- 

 formity over the habitable globe" (CoPELANl) 6g. 12). In dy. 167 he paid special 

 attention to Hotrychiion australe^. Br. which has the peculiar distribution Argentina, 

 Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand and "may be regarded as an obvious immi- 

 grant from the south". It is surprising that the species found in Patagonia and 

 I'\iegia is not this, but the northern B. lunaria L. We have no reason to regard 

 OphioglossiDn fcy}ia)idi-zia)ium as coming from the south. 



Lycopodiion was not discussed by CoPELANi). L. magellaiiiaiin is subantarctic- 

 circumpolar, and part of the history of the genus may have been enacted in Ant- 

 arctica, the more so as L. scariosuni^ which belongs to another section, is bicentric. 



With reference to the discussion above the Pteridophytes are arranged as 

 follows. 



I. Antarcto-tertiary element. — 32 sp. (60.4%). 



1. Distribution pattern austral-circumpolar, bicentric or tricentric. — 20 sp. 

 a. ICndemic sj)ecies (2): Hymenophyllum rugosum, Polystichum berterianum. 

 h. .Species also found in S. America (Chile), many of them with a wider 



distribution (w) in the S. hemisphere (18): Hymenophyllum secundum, plicatum, 

 tortuosum, ferrugineum and falklandicum (w), Polystichum vestitum (w), Asplenium 

 obliquum (w) and dareoides, Hlechnum valdiviense and chilense, Hypolepis rugosula 

 (w), Ilistiopteris incisa (w), Polypodium magellanicum (w), Gleichenia pedalis, 

 quadripartita and cf. litoralis, Lycopodium magellanicum (w) and scariosum (w). 



2. S[)ecies belonging to genera endemic in S. America but supposed to be 



