160 DAVALLIA. 



22. D. parvuluy Wall.; caudex long creeping clothed with 

 lax subulate scales, frond very small deltoid tripinnatifid gla- 

 brous rigid (from the stout costa;), segments linear throughout 

 slightly grooved above when dry unequally forl<ed and acute 

 at the apices, sori at the sinus of the forks, involucres subor- 

 bicular dilated above and broader than the segments. — Wall. 

 Cat. n^ 247. Hook, et Grev. Ic. Fil. f. 138. Leucostegia, 

 J.Sm. 



Hah, Singapore, Dr. Wallich, 1822. — I am not aware tliat this beauti- 

 ful little fern, of wliicb tlie fronds are scarcely more than an inch long, and 

 the stipes about the same length, has been detected by any one except Dr. 

 Wallich, and by him only in the island of Singapore. It there fonns large 

 tufts with its long interlaced creeping caudices, bearing numerous fronds 

 which arise pretty close together, but from different distances. The rigid- 

 ity of the frond seems due to the wide and stout costae, and the very small 

 quantity of foliaceous substance, which merely forms a sometimes scarcely 

 perceptible narrow wing. 



23, D. pulchra., Don; "frond ovate pinnate glabrous, leaf- 

 lets deeply pinnated, segments inciso-lobate, lobes linear- 

 lanceolate acute, sori solitary, involucres scariose, stipes and 

 rachis very glabrous." Don, Prodr. Fl. Nep. p. II. Leuco- 

 stegia, J. Sm . 



Hab. Nepaul, Wallich. " Fronds very elegant, a foot high or more, 

 slender, full green, finely cut." — This is in all probability some one of Dr. 

 Wallich's species elsewhere mentioned ; but, with such a meagre descrip- 

 tion, and no figure, I am unable to refer it to its proper place. 



Subgen. III. Prosaptia. Sori marginal, terminal tipon a segment 

 or lobule of the frond. Involucre cuneato-semiterete, truncate 

 and opening at the apex : its texture that of the frond, of 

 which it appears to be formed. — Tufted rather small Ferns, 

 natives of the Malay Archipelago, Ceylon, and the Pacific 

 Islands. Fronds almost sessile, erect, simple, pinnatifid or sub- 

 pinnatifid, coriaceous, more or less hairy or glabrous, very 

 opaque, with sunken obscure plmiated veins, terminating ivithin 

 the margin and clavate at the apex. — Genus Prosaptia among 

 Gymnosoreae, Pr. Polypodium, J. Sm. 



Obs. I feel unwilling to multiply genera unnecessarily, and retain this 

 group among the DavalHfc ; though I think, on account of its habit, rather 

 than from any important character in the fructification, it deserves to con- 

 stitute a genus better than any other other group oi Davallice. But I can- 

 not agree with Presl, who places it among his " Gymnosorece ; '^ still less 

 with Mr. J. Smith, who unites it to Polypodium. — I have never seen the 

 Prosaptia bipinnata Presl ; but judging from the figure (for there is no de- 

 scription) it ought not to be referred hither, though I know not where else 

 to place it. Its involucres are represented as a truncated cone, open 

 at the summit and projecting forward from the margin of the pinna be- 

 neath. The habit is more that of the pinnated section of our subgenus 

 " Microlepia." 



