PELL^A. 151 



on the banks of Rogne's river, rare, W. D. Brackenridge. Collected also during 

 Lieut. A. W. Whipjde's exploration for a railway route from the Mississippi River 

 to the Pacific Ocean, near the 35th parallel of Latitude, 1853-4. — This elegant little 

 Fern has at first sight, in its ramification and in the general form of the pinnules, 

 such a resemblance to fertile fronds of Cryptogramme crispa, that my first hasty 

 inspection led me to refer it without doul)t to that plant ; but a more accurate 

 examination convinced me that I was in error in so doing. It has not the two 

 kinds of fronds of that plant, and the involucre is of a totally different character, 

 not simply formed of the reflexed margin of the pinnule, but there is an intramar- 

 ginal thin membranaceous involucre of a distinct texture from the frond. I refer 

 it with little hesitation to Pellcea, from all the species of which it is very distinct, 

 as will be seen better from the figure than from any laboured description. I find 

 a peculiarity on the upper side of the pinnules when highly magnified, as shown 

 in one of our figures (Tab. CXXV. f. 2), namely, an appearance of white, close- 

 pressed, parallel hairs lying in the direction of the margins, tapering at each end, 

 like the hairs of some Malpighiaceous plant. A high magnifying power shows 

 that these are not separable from the cuticle, but are rather lodged in it. Can 

 they be looked upon as raphides .' Mr. Brackenridge's figure and description of 

 this plant, which I only discovered since my Plate was prepared, are both very 

 faithful, and that author justly remarks its close resemblance (at first sight of 

 course) to Allosorus acrostichoides, which we consider the same as Cryptogramme 

 crispa. The rigid habit and different nature of the involucres forbid its being 

 correctly referred to Onychium. 



31. P.? nudiusada ; "frondibus pinnatis utrinque pubes- 

 centibus, pinnulis linearibus integris infimis subincisis, invo- 

 lucris angustissimis," jBr. — Pteris nudiuscula, Br. Prodr. Nov. 

 Holl. p. 155. Nothochlsena pilosa?, Hook, et Am. Bot. of 

 Beech. Voy. p. 74. 



Hab. Tropical New Holland, Mr. Brown. — The solitary specimen I possess of 

 this little-known Fern, from the herbarium of the late Capt. Carmichael, to whom 

 it was given by Mr. Brown, has no distinct involucre, and has so many points in 

 common with Dr. Ariiott's and my Nothochlcena pilosa (Bot. of Beech. Voy. p. 74), 

 that I could have little hesitation in considering them to be one and the same 

 species ; but Mr. Brown describes the involucres as " angustissima," and one at 

 least of his own specimens justifies him in doing so. It is well known however 

 to every student of Ferns what a close relationship there is between Nothochlcena 

 and the Pteridece, and how diflficult it is to decide whether a more or less reflected 

 margin is to be considered an involucre or not. Mr. Brown's plant has the sori 

 arising from the veins apparently in short lines, and therefore would come into 

 Allosorus, or Pellcea of more recent authors, and I think it right to retain it, for 

 the present at least, among the Pteridea?., and we may hope that Dr. Mueller, 

 now botanizing in tropical Australia, will send home perfect and copious speci- 

 mens to enable us to decide the point in question. 



I may observe, with regard to the Nothochlcena pilosa, that, besides our origi- 

 nal specimens from the Coral Islands, we have received the same from Mathews 

 (n. 23), and Cuming {n. 1602) from the Society Islands, as well as from Macao, 

 Rev. G. H. Vachell, and from Hongkong, Dr. Dill; so it has probably an exten- 

 sive range. 



32. P. decomposita ; a span to a foot long tufted, caudex 

 thick short horizontal with copious fibres, fronds ovate or 

 subdeltoid (4-8 inches) submembranaceous decompoundly 



