vate collection, and lioin works where lliey have been tlie most carcftiliy 

 described. 



* Specks of l/ir fVrst fiidir^, Mexico aiul Saut/i America. 



(?. C. arhorca. Sin. ; unanncd or with ('( w distant short 

 prickk's on tlie main rachis and stii)c.s wnich are lVe([uenlly 

 downy, fronds bipinnatc, ])innules lanceolate elongate nincli 

 acnniinated deeply i)innati(id glabrons or with the rachis and 

 costa hairy paler beneath, involucre coriaceous cu]j-shaped 

 in age a little contracted upwards opening with a beautifully 

 even margin.' — a. nigresccus ; rigid, stipes rachis and ui)])er 

 side of the liond almost black when dry, involucres chartace- 

 ous nearly black. Polypodiuni arborcum, L. — PIidii. Fil. t. 

 1 [reduced Ji (J It re of the entire />/((// f), and I. 2. — Disj)henia 

 arborea, Presl. — C. Guadelu[)ensis, Spr. {dccordiiKj to Presl). 

 C. bisulca (C. affinis in te.rt), Schkh. Fil. I. 132, b, and 132, 

 e, according to Kaulf. — /3. pallida.; less rigid, stipes rachis 

 and upper side of tlie frond ])aler, involucre membranaceous 

 brown. C. elegans. Hew. in May. of Nat. Hist. 1838, p. 4fi(). 

 Hook. Gen. Fil. t. 23. 



Hal). Jamaica, Hispauiola, Martinique, St. Vincent's, and probably the 

 West-Indian Islands fjenerally. Ilhios, Brazil {Moricand in Herb, no.slr. 

 tinder the name of C. Slernbergii). — In conse([uence of tlie imperfect finiires 

 and descriptions of the early authors, it cannot be clearly ascerlained what 

 they meant by their Poli/podium arborcum. Yet Plumier's representation 

 of the involucres is so characteristic that I think I cannot do wrong; in con- 

 sidering- our present plant to be the same: and that tliis is the Ci/athca ar- 

 borea ot Sir J. E. Smith, I have the authority of a specimen from hiniscU" 

 which cannot be mistaken. The essential character, as it appears to me, is 

 to be looked for in the firm texture and beautifully regular margin of the 

 cup-shaped involucre in age, in my var. /3., indeed, becoming- thinner and 

 consequently somewhat more fragile, yet still different from that of any 

 other species with which I am acquainted, and especially in the depth of 

 the cuj) and its remaining so perfect and regular in form, after the capsules 

 have fallen away. Occasionally tlie receptacle has been seen to be bilid, 

 and then this plant becomes Disphcniu of Presl. 



7. C. Serra, Willd.; more or less muricated, fronds bijjin- 

 nate, jjinnules lanceolate deeply pinnatifid much acuminated, 

 segments linear-oblong acute serrated falcate glabrous or the 

 costa and rachis slightly hairy, sori generally covering the 

 whole of tlie segments, involucre very thin and membrana- 

 ceous at length forming a sliallow liemispherical cup entire 

 or more or less torn at the margin. (Tab. IX. A.) C. Gua- 

 dehqicnsis, Spr. in Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. Cur. lS-21, p. 233. 

 Hemitelia Serra, Desv. 



Ilab. Caracas, Jircdemei/cr {in Willd.) Jamaica, Dr. Haiicrofl. St. ^'in- 

 cent, licv. L. (j'uildini/. "(Guadeloupe, (,'. .'?. Parker, Exq. Serra de IJa- 

 tatho, Brazil, Gardner, n. 2!)f)0. — 1 am aware that Sprcngel unites the C. 

 Serra, and even his own ('. (iuadelupenaiH, to C. arborea. I find, however, 



C 



