22G PTERIS. 



Pt. longipes, Don, Prodr. Fl. Nepal, p. 15. Bl. En. Fil. Jav. 

 p. 242. Ag. I. c. p. 70- Pt. uniseriata, Poir. Encrjcl. Bot. 

 Suppl. iv. p. 608. Pt. linearis, Poi7\ Encycl. Bot. v. p. 723. 

 Sw. Syn. Fil p. 99. Willd. Sp. PL p. 379. IFa/l. Cat. n. 

 105. Aff. I.e. p. 70. Pt. marginata, Bo7-y, Voy. 2. p. 192. 

 M^illd. Sp. PL V. p. 399. Ag. L c. p. 67. Pt. connexa, J. Sm. 

 FiL Philip, in Hook. Bot. Journ. iii. p. 405. Var. /?. Jimg- 

 huhnii?, De Vriese in Herb. Nostr. (pinnte longer less deeply 

 pinnatifid, segments wider more falcate). Var. 7. Milneana ; 

 pinnides broader more deeply pinnatifid, longer segments. 

 (Tab. CXXXVIII. B.) 



Hab. East Indies : Molucca, Gaudichaud ; Java, Blume, Lolh {De Vriese, var. 

 ;8, an sp. distincta? but venation the same); Amhoyna, Lnljillaidiere {in Herb. 

 Nostr., named by Agardh) ; Luzon, Cuminrj, n. 204 (Pt. connexa, /. Sm.) and 41 

 (pinnie elongated, pinnules crowded, segments deeper and longer). Singapore, 

 ll'all. Cat. n. 10 {young). Labuan, Motley, Barber, (segments of the pinnules 

 acute). Ceylon, Mrs. Gen. Walker, Gardner. Bengal, Sylbet, Wallich. Mau- 

 ritius, Bojcr. Bourbon, Carmichael (one specimen named Pt. marginata, by 

 Agardh), Herb. Mus. Par. Isle of Pines and Feejee Islands, Macgillicray and 

 Milne (common form) ; and var. y by the sajne collectors, and by Dr. Harvey. 

 Society Islands, Nightingale. Tropical Africa: Isle of Galega, east coast, Bojer ; 

 and west coast, Fernando Po, Vogel and Barter, in Baikie's Second Niger Expe- 

 dition. — This widely extended, but, I believe, exclusively tropical species (limited 

 however to the old world), has been honoured with many names, not a few of 

 which have been placed among the synonyms by Agardh, whilst I am alone 

 responsible for bringing the rest under one species, viz. the Pt. tripartita, Sw. 

 Nevertheless, the same author (Agardh) has paved the way for this union by the 

 following remark under one of the above synonyms {Pt. revolvens, bis n. 87) : — 

 "Tribum constituunt naturalissimam species (82-87, viz Pt. Wallichiana, kg., 

 linearis, Poir., longipes, Don, subj^edafa, Wall., tripartita, Sw., and Pt. revol- 

 vens) allatre, arctissimo invicem affinitatis vinculo junctaj. et ita quidem similes 

 ut eandem esse speciem omnes facile crederes. Differentiae in externa forma 

 adsunt, sed vix alii characteres quam qui venarum structura nituntur, revera 

 valere videntur. Vena; in Pt. Wallichiana (this however I have without hesi- 

 tation removed to the Campteria section) admodum simplices, in sequentibus 

 sensim magis magisque anastoniosantibus junguntur, et in ultima specie omnino 

 reticulata evadunt, et ita inter species Pteridis venis furcatis, ceterasque 

 quarum vena; reticulata, transitum efRciunt." I do not find any, however, 

 to be everywhere reticulated : for here, as in most of this section {Litobrochia), 

 when the pinna: or pinnules are pinnatifid, there are areoles placed close to the 

 main costa, generally described as " arcs " (monarcuate, biarcuate, etc.) ; again, 

 analogous areoles are formed on each side the costule of the segment (as seen in 

 our Tab. CXXXVIII. B., fig. 2), often confined to the base; occasionally ad- 

 jacent to these areoles the anastomosing may be continued, all the rest of 

 the veins extending to the margin being free in the Ferns now under con- 

 sideration and in not a few others; so that they neither accord with Campteria, 

 " vena; infima; opposita; in arcum angulatum anastomosantes," nor with Lito- 

 brochia, " vena; in maculas hexagonoideas anastomosantes." — There is indeed in 

 § Campteria a group, or, as I have ventured to consider the individuals, a species 

 {Pt, Wallichiana, Ag.), which, save in the nearly universal absence of areoles 

 beyond the basal arc, has an almost perfect conformity with the jjresent species. 

 But there I have found occasionally a few areoles on the costule, never so much 



