PELL^A. 143 



ternifolia, as far as I have yet seen, has the pinna; invariably trifoliolate ; no in- 

 stance, in all my numerous specimens, of an approach to the pinna; becoming 

 pinnate ; the colour too is a dark olive-brown (when dry), never in the least glau- 

 cous ; and in all tlie entire frond is fertile, the mucro short opaque. Our plant 

 now under consideration, in three very perfect specimens, has the fronds of a pale 

 glaucous green, the superior pinna; are trifoliolate, the lowermost pair are pinnate, 

 and these latter are moreover generally sterile, and of a broad, oval form, plane ; 

 all too are terminated by a cartilaginous, distinct, pellucid raucro. How far dif- 

 ference of climate may affect these plants it may be hard to say, and whether the 

 more compound nature of tlie frond, and the more decided mucro, and the very 

 different colour, etc., may be due to the more northern latitude, I will not under- 

 take to determine. 



18. P. longimucronata, Hook.; glabrous (a span to a foot 

 high) tufted, caudex short thick nodose scaly, fronds coriace- 

 ous glauco-pruinose ovato-lanceolate bipinnate, pinnee nearly 

 opposite sessile, pinnules 7-9-13 oj:)posite (in rather distant 

 pairs) hnear-oblong a little broader at the base sessile acute 

 rather long cartilagineo-mucronate at the point terminal ones 

 petiolulate, sori continuous, involucres broad formed of the 

 coriaceous hard inflexed margin of the pinnule, stipes and 

 sometimes pruinose rachis black - ebeneous very glossy. 

 (Tab. CXV. a.) /3. minor. Allosorus mucronatus, D. C. 

 Eaton, MS. {and in Slllim. Journ. July, 1856). 



Hab. New Mexico, C. Wright, Coll. N. Mex. 1851-52, n. 2131. |3. Bernicia, 

 California, Major Eaton, U.S.A. — My specimens of P. longimucronata and the last 

 species of Pellcpa are from the beautiful collection of the Plants of New Mexico, 

 made by Mr. C. Wright, who accompanied the U. S. Boundary Commission, 

 under the command of Colonel Graham. They have several points in common 

 with each other and with P. ornifhopus and P. ternifolia, as observed under our 

 last described species. This, however, is much further removed from the latter 

 species than is Pellcea Wrightiana, which indeed may be considered an interme- 

 diate form. The present is broader in its outline or circumscription, than that 

 species, and it is throughout bipinnate, and with smaller pinnules, though the 

 fronds are often longer; a trifoliolate pinna is rarely to be found on any of my 

 specimens. The general asjiect of this little group is not unlike that of the 

 fronds of Pellaa and romedxe folia, but the pinnules are longer and narrower in 

 proportion, and acute and strongly mucronate.* 



19. P. ornithopus, Hook. ; glabrous (a span to a foot 

 high), caudex short thick nodose seal)', fronds tufted coria- 

 ceous strict rigid ovate or ovato-lanceolate bipinnate, pinnaj 

 and secondary pinnee opposite distant the latter 3-foliolate, 



* Since most of the above was in type I have received, through the kindness of 

 Daniel C. Eaton, Esq., New Haven, Connecticut, specimens of my P. Wrightiana 

 (from the V^alley of the Rio Grande), and of longimucronata, /8 (from California), 

 both as '^Allosorus nincronatus" of that author, above quoted. The very brief 

 character given in ' Silliman's Journal ' does not enable me to determine which of 

 the two is the true mucronatus, otherwise that name has the right of priority. 



