AUSTRALIAN PERNS. 65 



lepis, of which the species, though not numerous in this colony, 

 are nevertheless highly interesting. The first of these has peltate 

 or buckler-shaped involucres or indusia, fixed by the centre ; and 

 in Australia, it is represented by two species A. aculeatum, and 

 A. coriaceum. Sir W. Hooker has united a great many varieties 

 from all parts of the world under the *first of these species, and 

 amongst them Brown's A. proliferum, as he does not regard the 

 proliferous fronds as the character of a distinct species. He re- 

 marks that " in Australia it is known only on the south-eastern 

 portion from Sydney to the Hunter Eiver," but this seems 

 scarcely correct, as it occurs plentifully on the banks of creeks 

 in the counties of Cumberland and Camden, and also on the Blue 

 Mountains, the Mittagong Eange, &c., &c. The fronds vary in 

 size, and the pinnae are sometimes more divided and aculeate 

 than at others ; but from the rusty scales, the harsh texture of 

 the frond, and the buckler-shaped indusium, the species is suf- 

 ficiently indicated. A. coriaceum is not a common species in 

 Australia, and I am not aware whether any botanist had collected 

 it on this continent before it was found by Dr. Mueller near 

 Cape Otway. Hooker remarks that this species varies extremely 

 in size, but that it is scarcely likely to be confounded with any 

 other as its texture is so leathery. The word Aspidium is derived 

 from aspis, a shield or little buckler, from the form of the indusia ; 

 and the next genus, Neplirodium, is so called, from nephros a kid- 

 ney, because the same organs are of a reniform shape. To this 

 genus belongs the well known and widely distributed species JV. 

 Filix-mas, which has been found in the Sandwich Islands, but no- 

 where else in the Polynesian Islands, nor in any part of Australia. 

 The " Male Fern," as it is termed, is common in Europe in shady 

 places and woods, and the root, which consists of many matted 

 fibres, forming a turfy or cespitose head, caused it to be regarded 

 as one of the ferns " detested by the crooked plough." (Virgil's 

 Georgics, b. 2, line 189.) The species of Neplirodiwn, known in 

 Australia, are those described by Brown under the names of N. 

 molle, JV". propinq/uwn, JV. unitum, and JV. decompositum, but 

 Hooker unites the second and third of these as mere varieties of 

 one species, whilst he places a fern collected by Frazer at the 

 Teviot Eiver, under the N. unitum of Sieber. Mr. Macgillivray 

 has recently collected some interesting specimens of these ferns, 

 I 



