PTERIS. 187 



ovate pinnate, lower paix- of pinna3 bipartite or again pinnate 

 chiefly on the lower side, all the pinnse and pinnules lanceo- 

 late acuminate sessile coriaceo-membranaceous subscabrous 

 minutely pellucido-punctate pinnatifid not to the base (but 

 so as to leave a rather broad uniform membrane on each 

 side the main costa) with subopposite lanceolate subfalcato- 

 acuminate serrated segments decurrent at the base and there 

 even subauriculate, veins thick forked 4 or 5 (often simple) 

 are situated within the decurrent base and arise from the 

 costa, sori narrow often extending nearly to the apex of the 

 segments, stipes elongated blackish-purple glossy. (Tab. 

 CXXXVIII. A.)—Bory, in Willd. Sp. PL v. p. 386 {not Gaud.). 

 Ag. Sp. Gen. Pterid. p. 31. Pt. angusta, Bory, in Willd. Sp. 

 PL V. p. 388 {Ag.). Pt. elastica, Tausch. in Sieb. FL Maurit. 

 w. 15 {fide Presl). Pt. Mascarenensis, Spreng. Syst. Veget. 

 p. 15 {fide Presl). ?Var. ; stipes stramineous, yi^. /. c. ^j. 32. 



Hab. Woods in Mauritius and Bourbon, Bory, Neraud, Bojer and Boufon in 

 Herb. Nostr. Var. ? with stramineous stipes ; Bourbon, Carmichael in Herb. 

 Nostr. — Agardh remarks of tbis, " Species pulcberrima cum nulla alia confun- 

 denda." It has indeed a peculiar appearance for one of this (which may be 

 called) the quadriaurita group. It is of a somewhat coriaceous texture ; the seg- 

 ments are singularly decurrent at the base (almost auricled), and nearly opposite, 

 not so deeply pinnatifid as in Pt. arguta and Pt. flabellata : the texture, too, is 

 remarkable, when held up between the eye and the light, full of minute pellucid 

 dots. The veins are particularly conspicuous, thick, and 4 or 5 spring from the 

 main costa, occupying the decurrent subauriculated base. I am doubtful if the 

 variety from Bourbon, above alluded to, be identical. It partakes of some of the 

 characters and some states of Pt. flabellata, or, as Captain Carmichael had named 

 it, Pt. arguta. 



47. Pt. (Eupteris) Swartziana,K^.', "frond pinnated, pinnae 

 shortly petiolate subpinnatisected with the lowest pair often 

 pinnulated, segments triangular-lanceolate obtuse serrated 

 subdecurrently confluent at the base, veins forked basal infe- 

 rior one arising from the costa, sori elongated, stipes even- 

 tually castaneous." — Ag. Sp. Gen. Pterid. ^.34. " Pt. bi- 

 aurita, Siv. Syn. Fil. p. 98 {excl. the synonyms and localities). 

 Willd. Sp. PL V. p. 384 {excL syn.) . Link, Hort. BeroL ii. p. 28. 

 Hook, et Grev. Ic. FiL t.\A2. Pt. allosora. Link, Hort. BeroL 

 ^. 31 ? {fide spec, from H. BeroL sent to Mr. J. Smith)." Ag. 



Hab. West Indies, Jamaica, Higson {Herb. Grev.), Bancroft, in Herb. Nostr. 

 (named by Agardh, but it has narrower segments than in the figure of Ic. Fil. 

 1. c. and more the character of Pt. flabellata), Purdie (exactly corresponding 

 with the figure just mentioned). Isle of Bourbon, Commerson {Ag.).—k Fern, 

 as it appears to me, almost intermediate between Pt. quadriaurita and Pt. flabel- 

 lata, necessarily partaking not a little of the character of Pt. arguta. The 

 learned Agardh confirms our views, expressed in the ' Icones Filicum,' of its being 



