AUSTRALIAN FERNS. 53 



of these graceful ferns resembles the well-known " Maiden Hair 

 Fern" of other countries, and from that circumstance probably 

 derives its specific name; but Hooker inclines to the opinion 

 that it is identical with A. ^tUopicum, the species next to the 

 Maiden Hair. "When my brother (The Eev. C. "VVoolls, M.A. of 

 Pembroke College, Oxford), was travelling sometime since in 

 Italy, he collected for me amongst the ruins of Capua, some 

 specimens of the true " Maiden Hair," closely resembling Brown's 

 A. assimile, but the pinnules are more cuneate. A. hispidulum is 

 very widely distributed in this part of the world, and somewhat 

 variable in shape, but it may generally be recognised by its fan- 

 like divided fronds. A. formoswn, of which it seems Sir William 

 Hooker had very few specimens, is still more variable in its appear- 

 ance. The genus Adiantum is so called from the dry character of 

 many species (adiantos, dry) ; and Pliny says, " in vain you plunge 

 Adiantum in water : it always remains dry." 



A good collection of Australian species with their numerous 

 varieties might be made within a few miles of Sydney. The genus 

 Hypolepis has not any involucre distinct from the frond of the 

 fern, but that organ consists of the more or less changed and re- 

 flected margin ; hence the name arises from the scale-like appear- 

 ance which that portion of the frond assumes (hypo, under, and 

 lepis, a scale). In the northern part of the colony, there is a fern 

 very similar to Polypodium rugosulum, which I am inclined to 

 think must be the H. Dicksonioides of some authors. In some 

 specimens that I have seen, the margin of the frond is scarcely 

 reflected at all, whilst in others it is so clearly seen covering the 

 sori, that the fern cannot with any degree of propriety be re- 

 ferred to Polypodium. Hooker inclines to the opinion that this 

 fern is not H. tenuifolia, although in an old state some of the 

 fronds resemble it, as " the teeth or lobules of the pinnules may 

 be seen to form an arch over the sori without altering the tex- 

 ture." H. Dicksonioides is undoubtedly a Norfolk Island species, 

 and Kunze mentions it as a native of New Holland. This is 

 probably the case, but If. amauroracJiis seems to be a mere va- 

 riety with a darker rachis, but little known. 



GheilantJies is a genus nearly allied to the last, but differing 

 principally in having the involucre confluent and continuous 

 near the margin (cheilos, the margin, and antkos, a flower). (7. 



