56 A CONTllIBTJTION TO, ETC. 



progress which has been made in our cryptoganric botany within 

 the last two or three years. Adiantum lunulatum has lately been 

 collected at Rockingham Bay. With A. (Ethiopicum, A. assimile 

 and A. trigonum are unhesitatingly joined ; whilst A. trapeziforme 

 and A. setulosum are connected with A. crffine, and A. Cunning- 

 liaml with A.formosum. Our varying forms of Hypolepis are re- 

 ferred to Poli/podium rugosulum, but some of the specimens col- 

 lected by Mr. Macgillivray, at the Clarence and Richmond Riv- 

 ers, are looked upon as exiudusiate forms of Nepkrodium. The 

 doctor unites Clieilanthes with Notliochlcena, under the species (7. 

 tenuifblia, C.distans, C. vettea, G. liirsuta, and C.fragillima. He 

 also refers the variable Pellcea falcata, to the old genus Pteris, 

 and furnishes us with the following species, as occurring in dif- 

 ferent parts of this continent : P. geratiifolia, P. Feliciennce, P. 

 incisa, P. comans, P. tripartite!, P. quadriaurita, P. crenata, P. 

 longifolia, P. 'umbrosa, P. arguta, and P. aquilina. The grace- 

 ful species P, comans, until very lately, had been collected only 

 at Apollo Bay, but Miss Atkinson has found it plentifully in 

 some of the gullies in the southern part of the county of Camden. 

 Our plant belongs to the variety generally named P. EndlicJier- 

 iaiia, as described in Endlicher's work on the Botany of Norfolk 

 Island. Buckingham Bay and Port Denison have supplied se- 

 veral species of Pteris similar to those indigenous in India and 

 the Islands of the Pacific, and there is reason to believe that as 

 North Eastern Australia is more carefully examined, other species 

 will be discovered. Whilst objects oi a pastoral and commercial 

 character are gradually revealing the capabilities of this vast con- 

 tinent, it is pleasing to find that the claims of science are not 

 overlooked, and that each expedition, as it opens the vegetable 

 rescources of the country, adds some contribution to our crypto- 

 gamic botany. 



SUB-OKDEE, 5. Lomariece. 



UXDEK this sub-order, we have to consider the genera of 

 Lomaria, JBlechnum, and Doodia, two of which are characterised 

 by linear and continuous sori, whilst the last differs from them 

 not only in the position of the sori, but also in the venation. It 

 may be convenient to class these ferns together, but, as Sir 

 William Hooker remarks, the limits of the group are not easily 

 defined, and several species of Lomaria, " gradually depart from 



