ASPLENIUM, § EUASPLENIUM. 141 



Hart. Lips. p. 74. /. 9. /. 1, 2. Aspl. monantlies, Linn. 

 Mant. p. 130. Aspl. ina-quilaterale, Mart, et Gal. Fil. Mex. 

 p. 57 {not WiUd.). A. lei)topl)ylluin, Fee, 'Jme Mem. p. 50. 

 t. 14. /. 2 (pinnules smaller). A. blanduluni, Fee, Tine 

 Mem. p. 51 [Mettenius). A. dentex, Lowe, Nat. Hist, of 

 Ferns, t. 16./. 2. A. Galeotti, Fee, Gen. p. 192. "inie Mem. 

 50. t. 16. /. 2 (common form, pinnfe a little more distant, 

 sori few but often in two series). Aspl. Menziesii, Hook, et 

 Grev. Ic. Fil. t. 100. Metten. Asplen. p. 136. 



Hal). African Islands, Madeira, Canaries, Azores. Tristan d'Acunha, Car- 

 michael. S. Africa, Cape of Good Hope, all travellers. Abyssinia, Schimper, 

 n. G/l (sori solitary, or 3-4 and then in two series), and n. 1274, near Adessula 

 (pinnae broader, sterile, or with the solitary soriis). Mexico, very aljundant, 

 Mart, et Gal. n. 629G (sori rarely in two rows), n. 6479, 6556, 6262, 6446 (Aspl. 

 leptophyllum. Fee), n. 6365, 6262 ; llartwcg, n. 410 ; Coulter, n. 1 701, 6370, and 

 6369 (Aspl. Galeotti) ; Linden, n. 1557, 1535 (sori generally biserial, the lower 1-2, 

 upper ones 1-4). Guatemala, Skinner (sori uniserial, inferior 1-3). llcalejo, 

 Sinclair. Cohnnbia, Morifz (from Mettenius, sori 2-3, always inferior), and 310, 

 Fendler, n. 134; Schlim, n. 318, and 836 (sori in two rows). Bogota, Ilolton, 

 n. 65. Andes of Quito, Jameson, n. 310 and 270 (sori in two series, 2-3 in 

 each). Peruvian Andes, M'Lean. Chili, Bridges, n. 808, at the base and on the 

 trunks of trees ; Laguna de Ranco ; and Lechler, similar situations and same 

 locality. S. Brazil, Sdloro (from Hort. Reg. Berol. ; sori 1-2 at the inferior 

 margin of the pinnule). Sandwich Islands, Menzies, Dr. Diell, Brackenridge 

 (common form, and plurisorous). — If this Fern were constant to its name and 

 character of "sorus in qualibet pinna solitarius," it would be readily enougli dis- 

 tinguished. Unfortunately that is not the case, for among the numerous specimens 

 in my possession are all intermediate states l)etween the solitary sorus (although so 

 prevalent as to be considered the normal form) to 6 sori, and these arranged in 

 two series, equal or more generally unequal, those at the inferior margin, how- 

 ever, whether solitary or 2 or 3, are horizontal, that is, parallel with the inferior 

 margin. It hence becomes difficult to distinguish these plurisorous specimens 

 from the Aspl. mullijuffu/n, Wall., and perhaps the utmost that can be said is 

 that in the Indian A.yjl. nin/fijiiyimt I have never seen a single specimen where 

 all the pinnae were monosorous, whereas in the African and S. American A. 

 monanthpmum it is the most general. Our A. Menziesii is undoubtedly a 

 plurisorous form of the present species, and Brackenridge has detected the mono- 

 sorous state at the volcanic crater of true A. monantliemum, and figures it so 

 correctly that there can be no mistaking it; and it is not a little remarkable 

 that a state of A. Trichomanes, L., nearly approaching to A. anceps, Sol. (for to 

 it I refer A.densum, Brack.), equally common with A.monanthemum in Madeira, 

 Teneriffc, and the Azores, is found in that group of islands. The same author 

 (Brackenridge) figures and describes upon the stipes of this latter plant small, 

 scaly bulbs, " a short distance below the inferior pair of pinna;, from which 

 spring one or two fronds. By a declination of the stipes, these bull)s throw out 

 roots into the ground, and a new plant is thus formed." 



100. A. (Euasplenium) extensum, Fee ; caudex a small 

 oblong knot (in the solitary instance in my possession), 

 rooting below crowned with subulate scales from which arise 

 3-4 slender wiry stipites black-ei)eneous (as is the rachis) 

 with a downy line at the margins, fronds l^-'i feet long 



