161 



costal. Aspl. firmum, Fee, Gen. p. 191, 197- A. falcatuiu, 

 Roxb. in Beatsori's St. Helena PL p. 299. 



Ilah. Ceylon {Lamarck), Mrs. Genl. WalJcer, Gardner, n. 1080. Courtallain 

 and Travancore, Madras Peninsula, Wight {Wall. Cat. n. 2214 ; "A. cultrifoliuni, 

 Roxb. Herb."). Mauritius, Wallich, Cat. n. 225. Bourbon {ex Herb. Miis. Paris.). 

 On trees, Tavoy, Parish (two specimens much resembling A. macropht/llnm, but 

 too much lobed ; another with the pinna; more than usually entire). Moulmein, 

 'J'hos. Lobb (habit and colour like A. macrophyllam, but leaves lobed as in A. 

 falcaluni, 7 inches long, much acuminated). Pig Island, Louisiade, M'Gillivray. 

 Friendly Islands, Harvey, Menzies. Sandwich Islands, Oahu, Dr. Diell, Ben- 

 nett (very small, whole plant not 4 inches high). Pitcairn Island, Cmniny, 

 n. 1384 (lobes of the pinnae nearly entire and rounded). Feejee group of 

 islands, Milne, Harvey. Isle of Pines, Aneiteum and Fortuna Islands, Milne, 

 M'Gillivray. N. Holland, Brown. Sydney, Bynoe (our specimen very stout and 

 coriaceous, near the base an inch broad) ; Brisbane River, A. Cunningham (sori 

 not so long and narrow). N. coast of Australia, Port Essington, Armstrong ; 

 Norfolk Island, All. Cunningham, Falconer, M^ William, Dr. Vaughan Thomson 

 (pinna; very obscurely lobed), Milne, C. J. Simmons, Esq. N. Zealand, most 

 abundant, from the north as far south as Akaroa and Port Nicholson. — Var. 

 firmum, St. Helena, Beatson, Cuming, n. 429, /. D. Hooker, Seemann, n. 2637 ; 

 Dr. Lyall. — Few species of Asplenitim are more generally acknowledged, and 

 few less understood, than A. falcatum of Lamarck, and the difficulty has been 

 increased by an opinion which long prevailed, namely, that Forster's N. Zealand 

 A. jwlgodon was different from the Indian A. falcatum of Lamarck, whereas 

 the two are identical : both were published in the same year, and one name 

 has as strong a claim to priority as the other. Lamarck's I prefer, for he 

 has given a reference to an excellent though rather rude figure in Burmann, 

 which determines the plant he intended satisfactorily. It is, however, a very 

 variable species, and passes by almost insensible gradations into A. caudatum on 

 the one band, and into A. macrophyllum and contiguum on the other ; and many 

 less generally acknowledged sjjccies will perhaps be equally or less deserving of 

 being maintained. The careful Kunze says of A. falcatum, " Synonymia hujus 

 specie! et affinium maxime intricata;" and again, " Species difficilis propter pin- 

 narum formam variabilem et a speciebus commixtis adhuc j)urganda ;" and he 

 renders some aid in clearing up these difficulties, but it can only be done satisfac- 

 torily by an inspection of authentic specimens. It is hardly possible, here as 

 elsewhere, to define in words the numerous variations which may belong to one 

 and the same species. 



133. A. (Euasplenium) Chamissoanum, Pr. ; *' fronds pin- 

 nate, pinnae lanceolate acuminate inciso-serrate, serratures 

 cvtspidate cuneate at the base, superior base auricled cuspi- 

 dato-dentate, inferior base excised, sori oljliquc, stipes and 

 racliis hairy." — Kaulf. En. Fil. p. 175 (sub nom. A. erosum, 

 Li., excl. syn. and locality of Ft. Ind. Occ). Pr. Tent. Pterid. 

 p. 107. Metten. Asplen. p. 157- Tarachia, Pr. 



Ilab. Manilla, Chamisso. — All that is known, as far as I am aware, of this 

 plant is, that a Manilla Fern, found by Chamisso, was supposed to be identical 

 with the M'est Indian Aspl. erosum, but whether the specific character given by 

 Kaulf uss is intended for the West Indian or for the Manilla plant, as seems 

 most probable, docs not appear. Prcsl, who separates it (I presume on account 

 of its locality), offers no remarks. 



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