19fi PTERIS. 



most distinguished writers on Ferns. It is however figured by Mr. Jenner 

 (woodcut) in Mr. Newman's ' History of British Ferns,' p. 31, and the latter 

 author has suggested the formation of a genus under the name of Eupteria. 

 I have recently, and, I am sorry to say, since the execution of the plate where a 

 figure of the species is given, detected a double involucre in au allied species 

 (Pt.scalaris, Aloritz), in which the inner one is, in a certain state of the fructi- 

 fication, as much developed as the outer, so that I do not hesitate to consider 

 it characteristic at least of a group of my section Eupteris.) 



64. Pt. (Ornithopteris) aquilina, L. ; caudex running long 

 and deep underground, stipites erect remote stramineous or 

 tawny, fronds ample subdeltoid coriaceous tripinnate gla- 

 brous or hairy beneath, primary divisions long-petiolate, ulti- 

 mate pinnae sessile, pinnules spreading linear more or less 

 approximate entire or hastate or below deeply pinnatifid 

 sometimes to the apex, segments ovate or oblong or linear 

 upper ones decurrent at the base the confluent portion 

 sometimes forming a lobe or auricle, ultimate segments often 

 elongated the margins closely reflexed more or less crenu- 

 lated, veins approximate simple or forked, involucre double 

 continuous membranaceous more or less villous or ciliated 

 (inner one sometimes obsolete). 



a. fflabi'a ; fronds destitute of pubescence or but slightly 

 downy beneath. — Pt. aquilina, Lin7i. Sp. PL p. 1533. Sw. 

 Syn. Fil. p. 100. Willd. Sp. PL v. p. 402. Aff. Sp. Gen. 

 Pterid.p. 49. EngL Bot. t. 1679. Allosorus aquihnus, Pr. 

 Pt. caudata, Schkuhr, FiL t. 95 et 96. Hook, et Am. Bot. of 

 Beech. Voy.p. 455 {non Linn.). Pt. recurvata, WaU. Cat. n. 

 113. Ag. Sp. Gen. FiL p. 50. Pt. firma, WalL Cat. n. 100. 

 Pt. excelsa, Bl. En. Fil. Jav. p. 213 [fide Ag.), not Gaud. 

 Pt. latiuscula, Besv. 



/3. lanuginosa; fronds evidently pubescent or silky-tomen- 

 tose beneath, pinnules more generally and regularly pinnati- 

 fid rarely caudate. — Pt. lanuginosa, Bory, in Willd. Sp. PL 

 V. p. 403. Kaulf. Enum. p. 189. Ag. Sp. Gen. Pterid. p. 5\. 

 Pt. Capensis, T/imib. Cap. Prodr. p. 172. Sw. Syn. Fil. p. 

 393. Schlecht. FiL Cap. p. 45. t. 26. Kaulf. Enum. p. 186. 

 Kze. PL Ecklon. p. 47- Pt. lanuginosa, (3, Ag. I.e. p. 51. 

 Pt. decomposita. Gaud. Voy. Freyc. Bot. p. 393. Ag. I. c. 

 p. 52. 



7. caudata; pinnules and their segments especially the 

 terminal ones narrow-linear elongated obtuse entire or has- 

 tate rarely pinnatifid, superior ones often decurrent but not 

 forming lobes on the rachis, involucres almost meeting at the 

 back which is glabrous. — Pt. caudata, Linn. Sp. PL p. 1533. 



