XXXIX] DORYOPTERIS 85 



sorus runs along the entire margin of the fertile blade, which is recurved for 

 protection. The type of this genus as founded by J. Smith was Pteris pedata 

 of Linnaeus (Hooker, Exotic Ferns, PL 34). In the Synopsis Filimm (p. 166) 

 it was included with eight other species as a section of Pteris: but it was 

 reinstated as a substantive genus by Prantl, on the basis of more searching 

 anatomical and soral examination {Engler's Jahrb. Ill, p. 403). He draws 

 a distinction between typical species of Pteris and the species now included 

 in Pteridella and Doryopteris: while in Pteris the formation of sporangia 

 begins on the commissure which underlies the coenosorus, linking the veins 

 together, in the Gymnogrammoids the first sporangia appear upon the vein- 

 endings, and spread from them, "so that a real fusion of the originally 

 separate sori arises." He extends this statement to include also Onychium 

 and Cryptogramme. Whether or not this view will hold in all cases, it was 

 applied by Prantl to separate the soral anastomoses at the margins in the 

 Gymnogrammoid F"erns from the familiar marginal coenosori of the Pteroid 

 Ferns : two series which are now generally held as distinct though parallel. 

 The rhizome bears scales, and in D. ludens (Wall.) J. Sm. it is typically 

 solenostelic, with an undivided leaf-trace 

 (G.-V. M.S.). The venation of the genus as at 

 present defined includes species with open 

 venation, as in D. concolor (Langsd. & Fisch.) 

 Kuhn: others are reticulate, as in D. ludens: 

 and these have the more definitely continuous 

 sori. An example of the latter type is seen 

 m Doryopteris pedata (L.) Fee (Fig. 639), which 

 shows the coarse reticulation of the sterile 

 blade (i), and a portion of the fertile blade (2) : pig. 639. Doryopteris pedata (L.) Fee, 

 here the venation stops short at the recep- t:i:^°^=^-^ -^^^^ 

 tacle which is narrow and continuous, and the the fertile blade, with coenosorus. The 



1 1 ^1 -1 receptacle is cleared in the lower part 



sporangia are covered over by the margmal ^f tife drawing : (enlarged). 



flap. The apparent similarity to the ZzV^/;r6i6-//m 



section of Pteris is very marked, and this readily accounts for the earlier 



inclusion of Doryopteris in that genus. 



Saffordia Maxon and Trachypteris Andre 

 These two small genera here find their natural place. A small Fern 

 collected by Darwin from the Galapagos Islands, but later found also in 

 Ecuador and in S. Brazil, was first described as Hemionitis pinnata Hk. fil. 

 Subsequently it was styled Acrostichuni {Chry sodium) aureo-nitens Hk., but 

 now it has been given generic rank under this name Trachypteris Andre, as 

 T. pinnata (Hk. fil.) C. Chr. Christ (1899) regarded it as closely allied to 

 Elaphoglossuvi. Such steps clearly point to a soral spread over the surface 



