ADIANTUM. 25 



involucres semiorbicular small not contiguous but at regular 

 distances and often extending round the apex, stipes and 

 racliis ebeneous perfectly glabrous, (Tab. LXXXIV. B.). 



Hal). Pacific side of Tropical America.— Island of Gorgona, Barclay, 

 Hinds. SaUinp:o, Seemann. — A very fine, and, I believe, very distinct 

 species: specimens from three collectors exhibit not the sliji:htest variation. 

 The habit is that of our A. prionop/ii/Unm ; but the fronds and pinna; are 

 much larger, of a stiffcr and more rigid habit than the normal state of that 

 species, the pinna: are i)etiolatc (or bare of pinnae for half an inch or an 

 inch) below, the pinnules invariably very approximate regularly crenato- 

 lobate (not toothed or serrated) the upper ones gradually smaller obli([uely 

 cuneate and terminating in a long tail-like point, narrow and slender, two 

 inches long: the involucres are small, placed at regular distances, and 

 in old specimens they stand out erect (being reflexed from their natural 

 position) at the apex* of a lobule, and look as if placed <m a broad stalk ; 

 and the rachis and stipes are entirely destitute of hairs or chaffy scales. 



49. A. inten/iedium, Sw. ; frond bipinnate, pinnae about 

 5 — 7 lateral ones horizontal terminal one elongated, pinnules 

 subpetiolate chartaceous ovato-oblong obtusely acuminate 

 obliquely cuneate at the base, upper base parallel with the 

 rachis dull green glaucous beneath sterile ones obscurely 

 lobate serrate, sori co])ious approximate, involucres oblong 

 subfalcate, stipes 3-angular ebeneous, rachis ferrugineo-hir- 

 sute, caudex creeping elongated paleaceous. — Siv. in Act. 

 Holm. 1817, p. 7G. A. fovearum, Raddi Fil. Bras. p. 53, 

 t. 77 {good). Link Fil. Hart. Berol. p. G8. A. Brasili- 

 ense, Link Hort. Berol. ii. p. 13 {non Raddi). A. argutum, 

 Splitzgerh. Tijdschrift roar Nalurl. Gescheid. vii. /;. 39. 



Hab. Tropical America, frequent, especially in Brazil (Gardner, n. 

 2758, 1228). Ilhios {Moricand, A. triangulatum). Guiana, frequent. 

 Amazon, Spruce, n. 48, "in vicinibus Para, July, Aug. 1849.'' New 

 Grenada, Linden («. 259). Mexico, Jur^ensen, n. 765. Galeold, n. (5491, 

 Linden, h. 78. Guayaquil, Hartweg, u. 706. Peru, Mattheivs, 7i. 1857 (larger 

 and less glaucous). West Indian Islands. Jamaica, Dr. Distin, (^c. Trini- 

 dad {cidt. in Hart. Liverp.) less glaucous). Dominica, Dr. Imrai/. Gua- 

 deloupe, L'Herminier. — I follow Presl in considering the A. fovearum of 

 Raddi, which is an excellent representation of our plant, to be the A. inter- 

 medium of Swartz, in Act. Holm. ; although that author does not notice 

 the glaucous underside of the pinnules, which, if not an invariable character, 

 is very nearly so. Professor Kunze well observes of this species, " magnitu- 

 dine et forma pinnularum, plus minus atteuuata, variabilis, tamen facile 

 recognoscenda." Yet even with many of the best marked species of ferns 

 there are puzzling states; and we have specimens of this which border very 

 closely upon A.prionophijllum or A.fructuosum. Kunze, as well as Presl, 

 refer hither the A. (riajif/ulatum of Kaulfuss, which I have ventured to keep 

 distinct. Frond 6—8 inches to a foot long, with the stipes equal in 

 length or longer. — Kunze, in Linnnca, 1848, p. 222, says, in a note at 

 the close of his observation upon A. inlermedium, " Hie inserendum 

 Ad. IvtruphyUum, H. B., Klotzsch, I,inna>a, p. ;}51, IMiquel," \c. But 

 whether lie thereby means it to be understood lliat A. letruphi/lluin should 

 VOL. II. K 



