16 CYATHEA. 



seldom at tbe forking, and it sliows how careful we ought to be in not lay- 

 ing too much stress on the value of the venation and position of the sori, 

 in distinguishing genera of ferns. Galeotti speaks of it as inhabiting, 

 along with A/sophila pruhuita, the borders of brooks in the thick forests of 

 Xalapa and Totutla, at an elevation above the sea of 3500 to 4000 feet. 



Doubtful Species of this Section. 



4. ? C. Uevigata, Willd. Herb.; "fronds biphmate, pinnules 

 sessile linear-lanceolate subcordate at the base crenate at the 

 apex, stipes smooth, rachis tomentose, sori subcostal." Kaidf. 

 Emim. Fil. p. 256. — C Madagascarensis, Kaulf. I. c. p. 257 

 [according to Presl). 



Hab. Madagascar, Petit Thouars. — " Pinnules an inch long, three lines 

 wide, glabrous; veins bi-trifurcate." Of this and the two following I know 

 nothing from authentic specimens. Presl places them in his section of 

 Neurocarpia ; but the subcostal sori described by Kaulfuss in this and the 

 next species, and especially the remark on the present one, " Sori placed on 

 the division of the veins," would lead to a different conclusion. 



5. ? C. maratiioidesy Willd. Herb.; " fronds bipinnate (?), 

 pinnules petiolate lanceolate acuminate cordate at the base 

 serrated at the apex, rachis hairy above, sori subcostal sub- 

 contiguous." Kaulf. Ennm. Fil. p. 256. 



Hab. Madagascar, Petit Thouars. — " Lower pinnules an inch long, up- 

 per gradually larger, 2 inches long | an inch wide. Veins bi-trifurcate," 



C. grandifolia^ Willd. and C. speciosa, Willd. will be found 

 under Hemitelia. 



Subgen. II. Eucyathea. Sori in the axils of the forks. Hook. 

 Gen. Fil. tab. 23. 



Obs. Perhaps in the whole range of the great family of Ferns there is 

 not a group more difficult of accurate determination than are the species 

 of this section of Cyathea. They have arborescent trunks, whose appear- 

 ance and even external form are only known to travellers who have the pri- 

 vilege of seeing them in their native soils. The fronds, gigantic in most 

 cases, and large in all, seldom reach us in an eutire state. We are but lit- 

 tle acquainted with the stipes, whether it be unarmed or aculeated, or with 

 any other character which may afford marks of distinction. The shape or 

 outline of the entire frond we have rarely the means of ascertaining : nor do 

 we know what is the exact nature of its composition, nor the value to be put 

 upon the more or less downy or scaly covering of the pinnae, or the greater 

 or less breadth of the pinnae or pinnules or segments, or the more or less 

 deeply serrated margins. Hence too the synonymy becomes inextricable ; 

 and without the opportunity of examining authentic specimens of authors, 

 their species in many instances must be looked upon as doubtful. The diffi- 

 culty is increased by the older authors not considering the nature of the fruc- 

 tification, nor the venation, so that in few herbaria do we find the most com- 

 mon and we presume the original species, the one upon which the genus 

 appears to have been mainly founded, C. arhorca (Plum. Fil. t. 2), correctly 

 named. The attempt here made to determine the species must be considered 

 as very imperfect ; but the best I can offer, derived from a very extensive pri- 



