AUSTRALIAN FER^S. 61 



Australasica) , but according to the recent arrangement, the 

 species now is A. Australasicum, although Hooker was inclined 

 to include this fern, and also A. muscefolitm, with A. nidus. The 

 fronds of this species are two or three feet long, and six or seven 

 inches wide, and from the peculiar manner in which they form a 

 centre similar to a nest, this plant has acquired the specific name, 

 Nidus. It occurs in many parts of New South Wales, and I 

 may mention, as a caution to fern-gatherers, that sometimes a 

 species of black snake coils itself up in the centre. There are 

 many beautiful species of Asplenium in Australia, but perhaps 

 none is so much admired as A. dimorphum (Endlicher's A. diversi- 

 foliwni) which, I believe, has not been found in any place except- 

 ing Norfolk Island. The sterile and fertile pinnae are generally 

 on the same frond, and being very diiferent in form, they give a 

 strange and elegant appearance to the plant. The species best 

 known in this part of Australia are A. attenuatwn, A.flabellifoliwm 

 A.falcatum, A.flaccidum (Brown's A. odontites), and A. Australe 

 (Brown's AHantodia). The first of these is fond of shady woods, 

 and has linear acuminated fronds, which are proliferous at the 

 apex (that is, which root at the extremity of the fronds, and 

 throw up new ones). A.flabellifoliumis a common and much ad- 

 mired species, abundant in most parts of Australia, being well 

 distinguished by its fan-like pinnae, and procumbent fronds, which 

 sometimes root at the apex, in a manner similar to the last men- 

 tioned species. When growing in moist shady places, the fronds 

 are more than six inches in length and have a bright green and 

 delicate appearance, being sometimes bipinnate. A. falcatum is 

 a larger and more coriaceous fern than the fan-like species, and is 

 probably the fully developed form of A. furcatmi or A. prcemor- 

 sum. This opinion could scarcely be formed from the examina- 

 tion of dried specimens, but a careful investigation of living 

 plants, springing up under various surrounding circumstances, 

 will probably lead to the conclusion. Varying fronds of this 

 species may be found in gullies on the Blue Mountains, and also 

 an abundance of A. flaccidum (Brown's A. odontites*), which, like 

 the preceding, seems subject to much variation. Dr. Hooker 

 says " it would take many pages to enumerate half its protean 

 forms," and he connects with it several of the generally received 

 species. This amalgamation is the result of comparing several 



