ASPLENIUM, § TIIAMNOPTERIS. 79 



gill ; they are prominent and the invohicrcs are rigid. The other specimen is 

 peculiar in its paler colour, with much shorter sori in close compact lines, very 

 slightly prominent (as in A. Nidnn). Griffith's plant from Malacca exactly agrees 

 with tills, hut the sori are neither so compact nor so prominent. Mr. Cuming's 

 most perfect specimen of this measures G feet in length, and is 1 foot in diameter 

 in its hroadest part. Still I find states of J. Nidus among the very copious sjjc- 

 cimens in my herbarium which lead me to the belief that A. mu.safolium is only 

 a very luxuriant condition of that plant, due perhaps to deep rich soil and great 

 heat and moisture ; Mettenius quotes Cuming's n. 15 and 59 for A. mma>f(jUnm. 

 The latter number is pro])al)ly an error for 89, and the former (15) is that which 

 is properly referred by Mr. J. Smith to A. Nidus. 



3. A. (Thamnopteris) Australasicum, Hk.; caudex sliort 

 erect scarcely any, fronds ample fasciculate subsessile coriaceo- 

 chartaceous Ijroad-lanceolate acuminate glossy narrowed below 

 or dilated at the rather obtuse base, costa especially below 

 sharply carinated at the back often cbeneous, veins close 

 parallel horizontally patent, sori very narrow-linear generally 

 occupying the disc of the frond in the upper half. — Hook. Fil. 

 Exot. t. 88. Metten. Asplen. p. 85. Neottopteris Austra- 

 lasica, J. Sm. Cat. Cult. Ferns, p. 49. Aspl. Nidus, Br. 

 Prodr. p. 150. Mueller, in Herb. Nostr. 



Ilab. Australia, Brown, and adjacent islands. Moreton Bay, F. Mueller, Mr. 

 Flood. New Hebrides and Fiji and adjacent islands, Milne (Voyage of II. M.S. He- 

 rald). — The figure and description of this fine Asplcnium in the ' Filices Exoticaj' 

 was drawn up from our living plant in the Royal Gardens of Kew, and there most 

 assuredly the character indicated by Mr. Smith to distinguish it from A. Nidus 

 is evident enough, the very acute keel to the costa, and this, below especially, of 

 an ebony-black colour : but having said this, I have said all which can by possi- 

 bility separate it from the A. Nidus. Striking as that character is, in compa- 

 rison of the semiterete and often depressed hack of the costa in its near ally, its 

 sufficiency must depend upon its constancy, and I am bound to say that in the 

 dried state these marks often fail to be seen. The accurate Brackenridge does not 

 notice the carinated costa among the numerous varieties of A. Nidus he has 

 noticed in Australia and adjacent Pacific Islands: and in some East Indian speci- 

 men of A. Nidus in a dried state, I have observed a projection of the l)ark of 

 the costa into an imperfect or obtuse keel. On the whole I am disposed to think 

 that this, like A. muscefolium, has no valid grounds of separation from A. Nidus 

 to rest upon. 



4. A. {Ths.mnoptens}) paclnjpliy Hum, Kze. ; "frond thick 

 coriaceous firm glossy linear-lanceolate rather obtuse much 

 attenuated towards the base the margin thickened reflexed 

 subrepand obsoletely remotely veined, veins patent quite 

 simple, sori on the superior half of the frond distant from 

 each other as well as from the costa and margin, stipes very 

 short nigro-paleaceous at the base and on the cocspitose 

 caudex, radicles fusco-tomentose." Kze. in Bot. Zeit. vi, p. 

 146. — Metten. Asplen. p. S^. Thamnopteris, Pr. Neottopteris, 

 Fee. 



