132 PELL.EA. 



unless the peculiar character derived from the position of the sori he considered 

 and he constant, there is hut little that will enahle us to distinguish them from 

 some species of Pleris on the one hand, and from those species of Cheilanthes 

 which have less interrupted sori on the other. Nor is it more easy to define the 

 exact limits of the si)ecies, so variable are they in the form of the pinna; in dif- 

 ferent stages of development and even on ditterent parts of the same frond. We 

 trust our figures will he found useful to the student in the determination of the 

 species. 



No acknowledged Pellcea (or Allosorus) is known to have anastomosing veins. 



* Fronds more or less pedate. 



1. P. pUosa ; small, fronds subcordiform, fertile ones 

 deeply subquinquelobately pedate (hence in a sense pinnate) 

 coriaceous opaque, primary lobes ovate petiolate deeply bi- 

 pinnatifid, segments narrow-oblong entire, rachis and costa 

 (beneath) hairy, sterile ones quinquelobately pedate primary 

 lobes broad pinnatitid ultimate lobes short very obtuse upper 

 surface subglabrous beneath clothed with copious chaffy 

 hairs, stipes and rachis ebeneous more or less paleaceo- 

 hispid. (Tab. CXIV. B.) — Pteris pilosa, Poh\ hi Encijcl. 

 Mail. V. 2^. 717. Sw. Syn. Fil. p. 163. Willd. Sp. PL v. 

 p. 362. Cheilanthes heterophylla, Willd. Htrb. Ailosorus 

 heterophyllus, Presl, Tent, {name only). 



Hab. " Isles Maurices " {Hcrh. Lamarck.) ; Isle of Bourbon, Herb. Mus. Paris, 

 (in Herb. Nostr.) 



I had the pleasure to receive specimens of this rare plant from the Paris Mu- 

 seum, under the name of Cheilanthes hef.erophylla, Willd. It does not appear to 

 he anywhere described under that name, and is clearly the Pteris pilosa of Poiret, 

 from the " Isles Maurices " (which probably includes Bourbon, for it seems un- 

 known in the Mauritius. It is aUied in general structure to our P. geraniifoUa, 

 and to our var. b. columbina of P. lomariacea ; but the fertile frond is more 

 compound and pinnated, and the sterile fronds are clothed with chaffy hairs. 



2. P. geranmfoUa, Fee ; small glabrous, root ccespitose, 

 fronds cordiform ternate and pedate subcoriaceous opaque, 

 primary lobes broad-lanceolate pinnatifid or usually Ijipinna- 

 tifid, terminal one cuneate at the base, secondary ones lan- 

 ceolate, ultimate segments ovato-lanceolate entire and as 

 well as the sinuses acute, stipites elongated and as well as 

 the main rachises ebeneous. — Fee, Gen. Fil. p. 130, Pteris 

 geraniifolia, Raddi, Fil. Brasil. w. 110. Hook. Ic. Plant. Rar. 

 X. /. 915. Pteris Pohliana, Presl, Tent. Pterid. p. 145. 

 Pteris pedata, Kze. in Linncea, x. p. 522 {not Linn.). Pelltea 

 pedata and P. palmescens ? {nauie only). Fee, Gen. Fil. p. 130. 

 Pt. pedatoides, Desv. Pt. Mysorensis, Heyne in Wall. Cat. 

 n. 87. Pteris concolor, Langsd. et Fisch. Ic. Fil. p. 19, /. 21. 



