PTERIS. 217 



pinnate membranaceous but somewhat succulent paler and 

 subglaucous beneath dull and opaque, pinnae 1 to 1t^ foot 

 or more long broad-lanceolate acuminate sessile or nearly 

 so more or less deeply pinnatifid, segments oblong or 

 lanceolate generally subfalcate and acuminate serrated at the 

 apex approximate, sinuses obtuse rounded, veins anastomos- 

 ing and forming a single shallow arc (or costal areole) at the 

 base of and between the segments, broader ones in a series 

 at the segmental costce, sori continuous at the sinuses, ra- 

 chises (the stouter ones muricated with short sharp tubercles) 

 brown stramineous glossy. — Willd. Sp. PL p. 381. Kze. 

 Synops. PL Pcepp. p. 75. Aff. Sp. Gen. Pterid. p. 58. Lito- 

 brochia, Pr. 



Hab. Caraccas, Bredemeyer ; Pampayaco, Peru, Pmppig ; New Granada, near 

 Bogota., Pur die ; Tnana, Linden ; Antioquia, Zeroise ; Gundaioupe, L' Ilenninier ; 

 Ocafia, 7000 ft. elev., Schlim, n. 605 (fronds dark-green on both sides, basal 

 areole generally forming two arcs, one long and narrow one, and one shorter 

 and broad one). — In this and some of the following species we have e.xamples 

 of fronds so large that few collectors have gathered sufficiently comprehensive 

 specimens to enable us to form an opinion of the ramification. Willdenow, 

 Agardh, and Kunze describe this as simply pinnate, with the pinnre pinnatifid: 

 some of my specimens prove that it is at least bipinnate. The texture ap- 

 pears as if of a thick and fleshy character when recent, with sunken veins 

 which are best seen on the under side, where they are of a dark colour upon 

 a pale, somewhat glaucous surface. The segments are not much elongated 

 (2-3 inches long), and all the pinn<e are regularly pinnatifid and nearly sessile, 

 the sinuses vary in breadth, and are sometimes almost biangular. The basal 

 areoles of the venation, as Agardh well observes, form one arc (very rarely 

 two, and then very unequal in size), and this arc lies parallel with and close to 

 the main costa, forming almost a straight line, extending from one costule 

 to the next. The Ocaiia specimens from Schlim vary a little from those of 

 other localities, all of which quite accord with Poeppig's plant, which is the 

 authority for Kunze's Ft. gigantea, and is, I have no doubt, the same as 

 M'illdenow's. 



95. Pt. (Litobrochia) crassipes, Ag. ; "fronds (ample) pin- 

 nate, pinnae pinnatifid the segments on each side equally 

 confluent linear-lanceolate falcate, sinuses rounded, basal 

 veins forming a single arc," Aff. Sp. Gen. FiL p. 59. — " Pt. 

 gigantea, Sieber, Syri. FiL n. 161. Presl, Reliq. Hcenk. p. 55." 



Hah. West Indies: Martinique, Sieder ; Island of St. Vincent, L. Guilding. 

 New Grenada, Purdie, Linden. — I retain this species of Professor Agardh with 

 much hesitation, for I do not myself see how the specimens from St. Vincent, 

 which he had in view when he drew up his specific character and description, 

 differ from Pt. gigantea, except in the longer pinme, more deeply pinnatifid, with 

 longer segments, in the great thickness of the rachis and upper portion of 

 the stipes, and in the " venae basales monoiircuatse, sed ita arete costa; adpressae, 

 ul vix nisi apice jjinnarum deteguntur :" — nor do the respective specific charac- 

 ters of the learned author point to any marked differences. I have no access to 



