112 CUEILANTHES. 



safely be placed in the pteroid group of Chcilanlhes : — the sori are some- 

 times distinct, more often continuous. 



66. Cli. intramarginalis ; roots tufted fibrous, stipites 

 crowded 4 — 5 inches long scaly with black deciduous scales, 

 below ebeneous as well as the rachis (which is downy on one 

 side), fronds 4 inches to a span long deltoideo-ovatc coriaceo- 

 membranaceous pinnato-pinnatifid below bipinnatifid, pinnie 

 very patent remote opposite sessile dimidiately ovate acumi- 

 nate the extremity long-caudate, lobes or segments linear or 

 linear-oblong the upper ones decurrently confluent those on 

 the lower half of the pinnae the longest especially in the low- 

 est pair where they are sometimes again pinnatifid, involucres 

 broad membranaceous brown continuous (rarely interrupted) 

 subcrenated transversely wrinkled. — Pteris intramarginalis, 

 Kaulf. in ScJilecht. et Cham. Fil. Alex. Linneca, v. p. 613. 

 Kunze, Analect. Pteridogr. p. 21, t. 17,/. 1. Allosorus, Pr. 

 Pteris inframarginalis et Pt. fallax, Mart, et Galeot. Fil. 

 Mex. p. 53. Cheilanthes Prionopteris, A. Braun, MS. (fide 

 Kunzii). Cassebeera, J. Sm. 



Hab. Mountains of Mexico, Xalapa, Oaxaca, Vera Cruz, &c.. Schie- 

 de and Deppe, Karivinski, Martens and Galeotti, n. 63'2}>, 6389, and 6467, 

 Linden, n. 40 and n. 1531. Guatemala, Skinner. — It is not unwillingly 

 that I place this Fern, which has almost invariably continuous involucres 

 (though thin and membranaceous, transversely wrinkled and more or less 

 crenated) in Cheilanthes : but ic has so close an affinity with our Ch. niti- 

 dula that I am unwilling to separate them generically. The general aspect 

 is similar, the texture and venation (elevated beneath the frond), the oppo- 

 site and here remarkable dimidiate pinnae, and above all, the intramarginal 

 insertion of the involucres (more striking in this species than in Ch.nitidu- 

 la), are alike in both. Hence Kunze was led to observe of this, " fructifi- 

 catio ah ilia Pteridis, ubi sori et indusia margini contigua, paullisper rece- 

 dit:" and in regard to Al. Braun having referred our present plant to 

 Cheilanthes, he remarks " quamquam Cheilanthes lirmis characteribus non- 

 dum nitatur, tamen nostram filicem illi adnumerare indusia continua et 

 sori uou discreti vetant." The habit is certainly rather that of a Pteris. — 

 The serrated margin, distinct from the involucre, is well represented by 

 Kunze in his ' Analecta Pteridographia;, ' and scarcely less correctly in 

 Martens and Galeotti's Pteris fallax, which is assuredly identical with our 

 plant, though that author does not seem to be aware of the existence of 

 serratures in Pt. intramar(/inalis, the species immediately preceding his Pt. 

 fallax. 



67. Ch. nitldiila ; caudex short creeping stout, stipites 

 2 — 5 inches long very numerous and crowded hispid with 

 subulate deciduous chaffy dark brown scales and as well as 

 the rachis (which is downy on one side) ebeneous, frond 3 — 

 4 or rarely 5 inches long subdeltoideo-oblong acuminate (ste- 

 rile ones broader) coriaceo-merabranaceous pale green gla- 



