18 CVATHIiA. 



the present plant, which I consider distinct from arborea, so entirely to 

 as^ree with Willdenow's description, that I do not hesitate to fif^ure and de- 

 scribe it as such. The sori are very different from those of C. arborea, al- 

 ways pale hrown (as indeed the whole plant is, when dry) even in perfection ; 

 the upper half of ihe involucre has rather the appearance of a coat of var- 

 nish tlian of a firm membrane, and this breaks away or disappears with the 

 capsules, and only a very thin and shallow i'rajiile cup remains at the base, 

 as shown in our fijiure. The stipes and rachis are never dark-coloured, 

 which is frequently the case in C. arborea. 



8. C. Tmray/fiia, Hook. ; slightly aculeate, stipes more or 

 less clothed with ferruginous down, general and partial rachis 

 especially beneath his])id \vith laciniated scales, fronds bipin- 

 nate, pinnules lanceolate acuminate serrate pinnatifid, seg- 

 ments oblong or linear subfalcate generally nearly entire, sori 

 covering most of the segments, involucre globose membrana- 

 ceous fragile bursting very irregularly. (Tab. IX. B.) — B.sub- 

 nuclata; main rachis with the scales deciduous. 



Hab. Couliaban Mountain, Dominica, Dr. Imray. Jamaica, Dr. Ban- 

 croft. — ^. Jamaica, Wiles, Bancroft. — This indeed, like the preceding, 

 varies in the length and breadth of the pinnae and segments : and the sca- 

 ly covering of the rachis, though remarkable in some specimens, is scarcely 

 visible upon that of others, from its deciduous character, as may be supposed. 

 The involucre is very fragile, and, when burst, extremely irregular, thin 

 and membranaceous, never opening with the thin even margin of C. arborea. 



9. C. miiricata, Willd. ; " fronds bipinnatc, pinnules ob- 

 long-lanceolate acuminate pinnatifid, segments oblong obtuse 

 crenate, rachis and arboreous caudex aculeated." Willd. Sp. 

 PL V. iv. p. 497, {not of Sleber). Kaulf. Enum. Fit. p. 259 } 

 " Plum. Fil. p. 5, /. 4." 



Hab. Martinique, Plumier. — I know nothing of this. Willdenow seems 

 to have taken it up solely from the figure of Plumier, which has no fructi- 

 fication ; thus even the genus must be doubtful. Kan 1 fuss quotes Sie- 

 ber's C. muricata as the plant of Willdenow. This may be ; but if so it is 

 an Alsophila and not a true Cyathca. 



10. Caspera,^\y.; "stem arboreous aculeated, fronds sub- 

 bipinnate, pinntiles coadunate oblong obtuse serrated at the 

 apex." Sw. Sijn. Fit. p. 139. Polypodium asperum Linn. — 

 Plum. Fil. t. 3. — Not Alsophila aspera, Hook, et Grev. Ic. 

 Fil. t. 213—215 ? 



Hab. Jamaica, Swartz. Hispaniola, Plumier. — This, like the former, is 

 to me a very dubious species. Dr. Greville and myself had hesitatingly 

 referred it to our Alsophila aspera above quoted. But Kaulfuss and Presl re- 

 lain it in Cyatliea, and the former adds to its character "receptaculo bival- 

 vi,'' as in the Disphenia of Presl. Plnmier's figure seems to be the original 

 authority for the plant, whicli is not sufBciently characteristic of any spe- 

 cies I am acquainted with. 



11. C. aciilcala, Willd. Herb.; "arborescent aculeated at 

 the base, frond bipinnate, leaflets stibcoadunatc lanceolato- 



