214 PTERIS. 



base of the costa beneath intensely black-ebeneous. (Tab. 

 CXXVI. B.). 



Hab. S. Africa, Macalisberg, Burke. — This lias quite the habit of Pell(Ea, 

 especially of the N. American P. atro-purpurea, and Pellcea iiobinz (Nobis, supra, 

 p. 147, Tab. CXVIII. A.); but besides other characters, this has the anasto- 

 mosing venation of Litobrochia, among which it will naturally rank with Pt. 

 articnlata, our next species, but with no other known to me; and from that it is 

 abundantly specifically distinct. 



90. Pt. (Litobrochia) articnlata, Klfs. ; fronds (about a 

 foot long) deltoid pinnate below horizontally bi- and even 

 tri-pinnate subcoriaceous glabrous ferruginous beneath when 

 dry, pinnPB of the upper portion and pinnules of the lower 

 (all articulated upon short petioles) 1-2 inches long from a 

 broad mostly cordate base ovate or lanceolate rather obtuse 

 distant, veins anastomosing with oblong obhquely arranged 

 areoles generally free and forked at the margin, sori 

 continuous broad, involucre narrow membranaceous, stipes 

 (longer than the frond) and the rachis fulvo-hirsute on one 

 side and the petiolules intensely black-ebeneous. (Tab. 

 CXXVI. A.) — Pteris articulata, Ka/i/f. in Sieber Sijn. Fil. Ex- 

 sic, Maurit. n. 77 {Herb. Nostr.). Sipreng. Syst. Veget. iv. 76- 

 Bojer, Hort. Maurit. 402. Litobrochia articulata, Presl, Tent. 

 Pterid. p. 149. Doryopteris articulata, Fee, Gen. Fil. p. 133. 



Hab. Mauritius, Sieber ; arid, rocky places. Cascade of Reduit and that of 

 Taraarin, Bojer. Bourbon, Carmichael. Madagascar, rocks on the ground at 

 the Chute d'eau d'Ouwilave, Riviere Divoudrou (Herb. Nostr.). — With the same 

 general ramification and arrangement of pinnules, and the same ebeneous stipes 

 and rachis as our last species (Pt. Burkeana), this is nevertheless a very distinct 

 and remarkable Fern. The l^rond is deltoid, the jjrimarj' ramifications oppo- 

 site and horizontal or nearly so ; the pinnules spread at right-angles from the 

 rachises, and are articulated upon little black petiolules, which, when the pinnule 

 has separated after maturity, exhibits a small concave disc at the sunmiit. In the 

 ebeneous stipes this (as well as Pt. Burkeana) resembles our first or pcdate sub- 

 section of Litobrochia, but in nothing else ; and in referring this to Doryopteris, M. 

 Fee destroys the peculiarity of habit which is all that recommended that group to 

 Mr. J. Smith for the construction of the genus; indeed, M. Fee himself defined 

 Doryopteris, " frondibus palmatis pedatis sagittatis." The same author has 

 misunderstood Sprengel, who does not say of Pt. articulata, " que les frondes 

 sont tres-entieres," and so " inapplicable :" but his words are "/o/io/?* subpetio- 

 latis cordato-oblongis obtusis integerrimis." 



{Pinnate or bipinnate ; pinnules or ultimate pinnce pinnatifid.) 



91. Pt. (Litobrochia) Brasiliensis,^ Rad. ; caudex short 



* This and the two following well-known and allied species Agardh refers to 

 a group with pinnae or pinnules undivided, but he qualifies the character by 

 the expression in the specific characters, " pinuis ala angusta longe decurren- 

 tibus, infimis pinnatisectis," showing a pinnatifid form at variance with the pre- 

 viously mentioned group. 



