60 A CONTBIBUTION TO, ETC. 



in particular by the absence of scales from the rachis and the 

 pinnae, by the bases of the pinnae not being truncate and some- 

 what rounded, by the teeth of the pinnae being more obtuse, and 

 the veins less approximate. 



The genus Blechnum, which the Doctor places before Lomaria, 

 is at present limited to four species in Australia. B. orientate 

 was found on the Adelaide Eiver, by Stuart and "Waterhouse, 

 and near Eockingham Bay by Dallachy. B. striatum has a wider 

 range, and is regarded as the IB. stramineum and B. squcmuloswn 

 of some authors. B. cartilagineum occurs in many parts of Aus- 

 tralia, but as yet no observer has noticed it in Tasmania. B. 

 l&vigatum, (JB. ambiguum of Sieber,) is one of the commonest 

 ferns on the banks of creeks, and as I have before remarked, the 

 sterile fronds closely resemble those of Lomaria capensis or pro- 

 cera. According to Dr. Mueller, the stipes seems always more 

 sharply angled, the scales at its base of a lighter colour and more 

 transparent, the pinnae often more clear and punctate, and the 

 veining less copious. 



Doodia is placed after Polypodium, and the species reduced 

 to two. D. caudata is a very variable fern, and has been noticed 

 from Cape Otway to Eockingham Bay. Dr. Mueller particularly 

 alludes to a three-lobed variety, and also to some abnormal forms 

 of the same species transmitted to him by Miss Atkinson and 

 the writer of this paper, some resembling an Asplenium, and 

 others, a Lomaria. D. aspera includes D. media and D. blecJinoides, 

 but whether D. maxima of Eraser and Cunningham can be reduced 

 to the same species, demands further inquiry. 

 SUB-OBDEB 6. AspleniecB. 



This is a sub-order comprising very numerous species, which 

 some botanists have distributed amongst many genera, but ac- 

 cording to the views of Sir "W. Hooker, the majority of such 

 genera are incorporated in one great genus, viz., that of Asplenium, 

 a word derived from a, privative, and spleen, as this genus was 

 formerly held to be a sovereign remedy for all diseases of the 

 spleen, and even to destroy it, if employed in excess. The sori 

 have linear or oblong indusia, more or less oblique, and some- 

 times opposite to each other. One of our most admired ferns, 

 the bird's nest fern, belongs to this genus. In Brown's Pro- 

 dromus, it is Aspleniivni nidus (the same as Smith's Neottopteris 



