PTERIS. 219 



tween the costules and the margin. If this character cannot be depended upon, 

 still less can the other trifling differences in the form of the pinnaj and segments 

 noted by Agardh be considered of value. Indeed the protean forms of the Lito- 

 brochia group of Pteris seem endless. Dr. Hooker, in his ' Flora of New Zea- 

 land,' unites our present plant with the following, Pt. comans, but at present I 

 prefer keeping them apart. 



98. (Litobrochia) comans, Forst. ; fronds ample pinnate 

 lowest pair bipartite or again pinnate membranaceous dark- 

 green glabrous pinnate generally a span to a foot and more 

 long ovato-lanceolate very deeply pinnatifid cuneate at the 

 base petiolate, segments subopposite decurrenti-confluent 

 (so that the two opposite bases take a wedge-shaped form) 

 linear-lanceolate ensiform patent straight or falcately decurved 

 remote 3 to 4-5 inches long sterile portions strongly serrated, 

 sinuses with a downward direction [sinubus deorsis) acute, 

 basal veins form one long or 2-3 shorter arcs, areoles nu- 

 merous, sori marginal not extending to the apex rarely to 

 the base of the sinus, stipes and rachises stramineous glossy. 

 — Forst. Prodr.p. 79 n. 419. Sw. Syn. Fil. p. 98 and 292. 

 TVilld. Sp. PL V. p. 381. Schkuhr, Fil. p. 86. t. 92. Aff. 

 Sp. Gen. Pterid. p. 59. Litobrochia, Pr. Brackenr. in Fil. 

 U. S. Expl. Fopped. p. 105. — /3. pinnae smaller, segments more 

 or less pinnatifid. 



Hab. " New Zealand," Forster (in Florulse Ins. Austral. Prodr.). By some un- 

 accountable accident, an original specimen of Forster, in my herbarium, was 

 marked " Ind. Or.," and hence the note to that effect in Agardh. The fact is, it 

 was received without any locality attached to it. It is a remarkably fine speci- 

 men {\\ foot long), and certainly I have seen nothing resembling it from New 

 Zealand, rich as our herbarium is in plants of that country ; but I have speci- 

 mens identical with Forster's plant from Tanna, New Hebrides, from Aneiteum, 

 from the Island of Futuna, from Angau in the Feejee group, and our var. ;8, from 

 Lord Howe's Island, from Milne and Macgillivray ; so that I cannot but suspect 

 some error in the locality given by Forster, and that Tanna should be substituted for 

 New Zealand, an island we know he visited, and where our collectors remark, " it 

 is abundant in woody places." All Dr. Hooker's P/. comans {Y\. N. Zeal. I.e.) 

 may be referred to tlie species or variety, as it may be, of Pt. Endlicheriana 

 above described. Some of our specimens have pinnae with segments half a foot 

 long. Brackenridge also gives Tahiti, in the Society Islands, and Ovalau, in the 

 Feejee group, as localities. — To me this appears a very distinct species, remark- 

 able for the great size of the pinnje, and the long, truly ensiform, decurrent, much 

 acuminated segments. The smaller specimens have the segments more or less 

 pinnatifid, when it becomes the var. ^ of Brackenridge, 



99. Pt. (Litobrochia) macilcnta, A. Cunn. ; caudex small 

 subrepent, frond broad ovate 3-pinnate 1-3 feet long thin 

 membranaceous pellucid, pinnae and pinnules remote alter- 

 nate, ultimate pinnules small (1-3 inches) ovate or deltoid 

 cuneate at the base petiolate pinnatifid, terminal ones elon- 



