230 I'TERIS. 



§ HisTiopTERis, Ag.— Fronds decompound. Pinnules pinnatifid, lowest pair 

 on the larger pinna often distant from the rest, dissimilar and stipuliform. 

 Venation extremely variable, free, pariially united, or nniversally anastomosing. 



118. Pt. (Litobrochia ?) mm«, Th. ; caudex subterraneous 

 long creeping (as in Pteris aquilina), fronds distant ovate 

 long-stipitate 1-7 feet or more long membranaceous when 

 young, subcoriaceous and paler-coloured in age often glau- 

 cous beneath, pinnae all sessile subadnate horizontal mostly 

 opposite especially the primary ones, pinnules oblong- 

 acuminate more or less deeply pinnatifid, segments ovate or 

 oblong (sterile subsinuato-dentate) or triangular, lowest ones 

 often remote and auriculiform on the rachis, veins all free or 

 forked or the basal ones only of the costa and costules 

 anastomosing, involucre continuous or interrupted mem- 

 branaceous entire at the edge, stipes rough and muricated at 

 the base and as well as the rachises rich brown or strami- 

 neous glossy. — Thunh. Fl. Cap. p. 733. Siv. Syn. Fil. p. 99. 

 Willd. Sp. PL V. p. 396. Schlecht. Aclumbr. Fil. Cap. p. 44. 

 /. 25. Bl. Fil. Jav.p. 212. Aff. Sp. Pterid. p. 78. Pappe and 

 Raics. Syn. Fil. Afr. Austr.p. 26. Pt. elegans, Siv. in Act. Holm. 

 181 7j p. 70. Ag. Sp. Pterid. p. 76. Pt. cruciata, Kavlf. in 

 Sieb. Sijn. Fil. n. 79. Ag. Sp. Gen. Pterid. p. 79. Pt. pallida, 

 Raddi, Fil. Bras. p. 49. t.^l. Pt. nivea, Bl. En. Fil. Jav.p. 213 ? 

 Pt. Vespertilionis, Labill. Nov. Holl. p. 96. t. 245. Willd. Sp. 

 PL V. p. 400. Br. Prodr. Nov. Holl. p. 154. Ag. Sp. Pterid. 

 p. 80. Hook.fiL Fl. Antarct.i.p. 110. Fl. Nov. Zeal.n.p.26. 

 Pt. Australasica, Desv. Prodr. p. 302. Pt. flavescens, Colla, 

 Plant. Rar. Ber. p. 37. Litobrochia, Pr.; Fee; J. Sm.; Th. 

 Moore. L. appendiculata ? CL Gay, Fl. Chil. vi. ^a 491 [not 

 Kaulf.). — /S. gigantea; scandent, 30 feet long. 



Ilab. Cape of Good Hope, Thunberg, Mundt and Maire, Carmichael, Zeyher, 

 n. 4620, Drege, Pappe and Rawson. Tristan d'Acunba (veins all free : and is Pt. 

 Vespert., 5. Carmichaeliana, Ag.). Ascension Island, dwarf, stipes piiri)le-brown, 

 fronds matted, forming a pale-green, brittle, glaucous mass, covering many acres of 

 ground on tbe weatber slopes of Green Mountain, alt. 1200 to 1800 feet, J. D. 

 Hooker, Seemann, n. 2G60. Mauritius, Bory, Telfair, Bo jer, Wallich (Pt. sinuata, 

 Wall.). Eastern Bengal: Sikkim, Hook. fil. and Thomson, n. 152. and 152 b, the 

 latter with more anastomosing venation, like Pt. aurita, Bl. ; Khasya, Griffith. 

 New South Wales and Tasmania, Lahillardiere, Brown, J. D. Hooker, R. Gunn, 

 etc. Mount Disappointment, Victoria, F. Mueller (generally larger, veins a little 

 more anastomosing). New Zealand, North and Middle Island, abundant as far 

 south as Akaroa, Dr. Lyall. Lord Auckland's Group, and Campbell's Island, 

 /. D. Hooker. Otaheite (?), Morrenhoiit (tide Ag.). Juan Fernandez, Douglas, 

 Scolder, Cuming, n. 1324. Bcrtero, n. 16G6 {common form, Pt. flavescens, Colla). 

 Galajiagos, Capt. Wood, R. N. West Indies : Jamaica, Dr. Bancroft, M'Fadyen ; 

 Gna(ialonpe, L' Herminier. South America, Venezuela, Fendler, n. 93. — ;3. gigan- 

 tea ; "climbing, 30 feet long," stipes as thick as one's finirer, primary pinna^ 



