7. DIAOALPE. 8. MATONIA. 9. ONOCLEA. 45 



65. A. obtusiloba, Hk. ; st. thicker than a swan's-quill, short, scarcely 4 in. 1., 

 tuberculato - muricate, dark glossy purple like the rachis, which is nearly 

 smooth and quite glabrous; fr. firm-membranaceous, black-green, scarcely 

 paler beneath, 4 ft. and more long, pinnated, everywhere glabrous except on the_ 

 costse above, pinnated ; pinnae 9-10 in. 1. (3-4 of the lowest pair much dwarfed), 

 shortly petioled, oblong, subacuminate, deeply pinnatifid nearly to the costse 

 below', less deeply upward ; lobes 5-7 lines 1., broad-oblong, scarcely falcate, 

 quite entire, very obtuse ; veins rather distant, forked, sori at the fork, copious, 

 small, prominent, nearer the costa than the margin. 



Hab. Sierra del Crystal, Trop. Africa, Mann. Equally distinct as a species^with the 

 preceding. Somewhat allied to this, I possess a specimen of an Alsophila? (sterile), from 

 Johanna Island, E. Trop. Afr., gathered by Dr. Kirk : the pinnce are all petiolate, 3 in. 

 1., oblong, shortly acuminate, deeply pinnatifid, especially towards the base, the lobes 

 rotundato-obscurely serrated, lowest inferior one generally free, glabrous ; costce sub- 

 pubescent and, as well as the forked veins, with scattered bullate scales beneath ; rachis 

 black-purple, below the apex winged between the superior pinnae. 



GEN. 7. DIACALPE, BL 



Sori globose, the receptacle small, scarcely elevated. Invol. inferior, globose, 

 hard-membranaceous, entire, at length bursting very irregularly at the summit. 

 Caps, numerous, nearly sessile ; ring broad. Tab. I. f. 7 



1. D. aspidioides, Bl. Hk. Sp. 1. p. 59. D. pseudo-Ccenopteris, Kze. ? 



Hab. Malay Islands ; Sylhet and Assam ; Ceylon. Fr. tripinnate, submembrana- 

 ceous, often deciduously crinite ; pinnl. oblong-cuneate, lobed and more or less decur- 

 rent. This genus seems more appropriately placed with the Cyathece than with the 

 Dicksoniece. The fronds much resemble those of Davallia nodosa. What is D. Mada- 

 gascariensis, Fee, Gen. Fil. p. 339. ? 



GEN. 8. MATONIA, Br. 



Recept. of the sori expanded into a firm-membranaceous, umbrella-shaped, 

 obscurely 6-lobed, stipitate invol., which covers and encloses 6 large sessile caps. 

 Not arborescent. Veins forked, free, except those around the sori, which are closely 

 reticulated. TAB. I. f. 8. 



1. M. pectinata, Br. in Wall. PI. As. Rar. 1. 1. 16. Hk. Sp. 5. p. 286. 



Hab. Summit of Mt. Ophir, Malacca. One of the rarest and handsomest Ferns. 

 Fr. ample, fan-shaped, 1^-2 ft. w., hard-coriaceous, each portion subscorpioideo-pinnate on 

 one (the superior) side. Pinnl. consequently all secund pectinato-pinnatifid. 



TRIBE II. DICKSONIEJS (excluding Hymenophyllese). 



Sori globose, situated on the back or apex of a vein. Invol. inferior subglobose, 

 free, sometimes covering the whole sorus, closed, at length bursting irregularly; more 

 frequently cup-shaped, entire or with 2 lips. Caudex rarely arborescent. Venation 

 free or anastomosing. GEN. 9-14. 



GEN. 9. ONOCLEA, L. Sw., Mett., Hk. 



Sori dorsal, globose, on the veins of the changed and contracted pinnoe of the 

 fertile fr. and quite concealed by their revolute margins. Invol. very thin, 

 delicate-membranaceous, hemispherical or half-cupshaped, originating from the 

 inferior side of the sorus, or wanting. Gaud, erect or creeping. Fr. stipitate 

 dimorphous, pinnate or pinnatifid, with free or anastomosing veins. Large herba- 

 ceous Ferns of cold or temperate climates. TAB I. f. \). 



