BLECHNUM. 43 



more long subarboresceiit crinite at the summit with dense 

 very long black glossy subulato-sctaceous scales which also 

 entirely clothe the very short stout stii)es, fronds forming a 

 noble crown 1-4 feet long nearly sessile in outline obovato- 

 lanceolate acute rather than acuminate long-tapering at the 

 base sul)coriaceous deeply almost to the rachis pinnatifid 

 (subpinnate), segments 6-b or 10 inches long, from a liroad 

 base linear-lanceolate acuminate serrated often falcate, the 

 lower ones sliort oblong or ovate or even semiorbicular, and 

 the lowermost of these are more or less distinct (free) but 

 sessile and adnate scarcely decurrent, veins forked once or 

 twice rather close parallel each veinlet extending to a serra- 

 ture of the margin, sori continuous close to the costa narrow, 

 involucres narrow membranaceous brown, (Tab. CLVll.) 

 — Desv. in Berl. Mag. v. ^>. 330. in Mem. Soc. Linn. Par. t. 

 283. KauJf. En. Fil. p. 159. Metten. Fil. liort. Lips. p. G3. 

 Bl. Corcovadense, Raddi, Fil. Bras. p. 54. t. 61 and ^\ his. 

 Bl. nitidum, Presl, Del. Frag. i. p. 187 [not Reliq. Hank.). 



Hat). Brazil; abundant in the vicinity of Rio, Raddi, Booy, Burchell, M'Gilli- 

 vray and Milne, M'Jiae, Gardner, n. 47. S. ]5razil, Selloiv, Mr. Fox. Tarapota, 

 Eastern Peru, Spruce, n. 4G73. — This Fern, ahnost pecuHar to Brazil, and most 

 plentiful, as it would appear, in the vicinity of the coast, is very distinct in its 

 outline, in the attenuated /jase of the frond, with its short, blunt pinnules ex- 

 tending nearly to the caudex, and only leaving a very short stipes densely 

 clothed with long, setaceous or crinite, glossy scales. In the figure given by 

 Raddi, these long, dense, bristle-like scales at the base of the stipes are omitted, 

 one of the more remarkable features of the si)ccics. 



2. J^]. cartilaghieicm, S\v.; "caudex oblique densely pale- 

 aceous with ovate black scales," stipes pale-brown a span or 

 more long angled black having many broad-suliulate black 

 scales, fronds 1-2 feet long oblong-ovate acuminate pinnatifid 

 (pinnate below) membranaceo-coriaceous, segments numerous 

 remote especially the lower ones from a broad base linear- 

 lanceolate acuminate sharply serrate decurrent at the inferior 

 base and produced at the superior forming generally an 

 acute angle in the sinus, veins close-placed siin})le or forked, 

 sori continuous close-pressed to the costa. — Siv. Syn. Fil. 

 pp. 114 and 312 [not Schkh.). Br. Prodr. p. 152. Willd. Sp. 

 PL V. p. 411. Mett. Fil. Hart. Lips. Q3. t. 5. f. 1-5 {excel- 

 lent). Sieb. Syn. Fil. n. 123 [in Herb. Nosir.). Blcchnopsis, 

 Pr. Epim. Bot. p.WQ. 



Hab. N. Holland, Port Jackson, Brown, Bauer, Sieber, J. D. Hooker. Scaler's 

 Cove, Victoria, F. Mueller. King George's Sound, Uiigcl {Presl). — The very 

 pinnatitid character of this species allies it to the following, Bl. nitidum, a species 



