178 PTERIS. 



sori continuous almost to the apex, stipes and rachis stout 

 erect strict purplish-chestnut colour. (Tab. CXXXVII.) — 

 Pt. excelsa, var., /. Sm. Herb. Pt. decussata, J. Sm. in Hook. 

 Journ. of Bot. '\\\. p. 403 {name only). 



Ilab. Ceylon, Mrs. Gen. Walker, Gardner, n. 1126. Luzon, Cuming, n. 103. 

 Society Islands, BidwUl. — Nowhere can I find this fine species described, and yet 

 it appears to be a well-marked and very distinct kind. It is undoubtedly the 

 plant n. 103 of Mr. Cuming's Luzon collections, and hence is the Pt. decusmta 

 of Mr. J. Smith, in Hook. Journ. of Bot. I.e., but no character or observations 

 are offered, and in his own herbarium Mr. Smith refers his species to Pt. exceha, 

 Gaud., of which he considers it a variety ; he does so in the belief that the lowest 

 pair of pinuK are forked or divided, though neither his own specimens nor my 

 more numerous ones in their lower pinnai exhibit any such character ; but even 

 should it be so, I believe there are sufficient differences to w'arrant its being con- 

 sidered a new species, and this will be at once seen by our respective figures 

 (Tab. CXXXVI. and Tab. CXXXVII.). The very strict 'habit of the main and 

 secondary rachises, the horizontally patent, uniform, narrow segments, are quite 

 unlike what we see in Pt. excelsa. 



36. Pt. (Eupteris) litobrochioides, Kl. ; " frond pinnate, 

 pinnae 3-4 pairs very large much acuminated (long caudate) 

 attenuated and decurrent at the base pinnato-partite (rather 

 deeply pinnatifid), segments lanceolate falcate acute serrated, 

 sinuses rather obtuse, veins forked, stipes and rachis glabrous 

 yellowish-brown grooved above." — Ki. in Linncea, xx. /?. 341. 



Hab. British Guiana., Pichard Schomburgk. Cataracts of the Aripecurii, prov. 

 Para, n. 1137, Amazon, R. Spruce, n. 561, larger, darker green and less falcate seg- 

 ment. — An authentic specimen of this, with apparently a perfect frond, is about 

 a foot and a half long, the te.vture subcoriaceous, colour pale green, caudex very 

 long, finely acuminated, stipes and rachis very glossy and smooth. Our plant 

 from the Amazon appears to be a perfect frond, about 2 feet long, piunie longer, 

 all dark-green and uniform, the main rachis is stout, not glossy, and a little mu- 

 ricated ; neither of these has the lower pinna; bipartite, or I should have referred 

 them to the ne.U subsection. It has indeed a very close affinity with the East 

 Indian Pt. longipinnula, Wall. 



{Fronds pinnate, pinncE pinnatifid, lowest pair or more bipartite or again once or 

 more jnnnate, the casta above spinulose at the base of a segment. — In the more 

 compound forms the primary division is ternate, and the inferior or lateral 

 divisions are more compound than the terminal one, and the lower side hears 

 longer pinna; than the upper side. 



Obs. This section, or subdivision, is destined to include a series of species (or 

 varieties) more or less connected with each other, respecting whose limits no two 

 botanists are agreed. These supposed species too arc not confined to any parti- 

 cular country, but widely dispersed through tropical regions in the Old and in 

 the New World. The type of this group, if I may so call it, by which I mean 

 one which has held a place in all works on Ferns since the days of Retz and Will- 

 denow, is the Pt. quadriatnita (often by a lapsus caknni written quadrialafa), but 

 this has been confounded with Pt. nemoralis, and sometimes with Pt. biaurita, 

 L., three plants with entirely the same habit and general form, but each having 

 its peculiar venation. The difficulty too of determining the species of authors is 

 greatly increased by there being few or no characteristic figures for reference 



