A«PLKXITTM, § EITASPLRNIUM. 163 



tlie centre. (Tab. CXClX.)—Br. Prodr. Nov. Hall. p. 151. 

 Metten. Asplcn. n. 118 /j. 



Hal). Tropical New Holland, Brown ; Franklaiid Isles, N.E. coast of Aus- 

 tralia, M'd'illivrai/ {V'ayagn of the Rattlesnake). — Few, if any, Ferns perhaps are 

 less known than the present. Save the Illustrious discoverer, it appears to have 

 been in the possession of no botanist. I owe my specimens to the naturalist of 

 the surveying voyaq;e of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, who gatliered it, apparently very 

 sparingly, on Frankland Isles, a group of the S. Pacific Ocean on the N.E. coast 

 of Australia, lat. 17° 13' S. ; long. 140° 8' East. It is admirably defined in the 

 short, specific character given by iMr. Brown, and clearly belongs to the present 

 /'«;Trt/«?«-section, differing widely from all other known species. The apices of 

 the fronds, without being prolonged, are very apt to bear a scaly bud or gemma, 

 which developes into roots and fronds, and no doul)t the plant increases exten- 

 sively by this means, as well as by spores from the sori. 



136. A. (Euasplenium) jjlanicaule, Wall. ; caudex small 

 thick erect densely rooting crowned with black subulate 

 scales, stipitcs 3-5 inches long tufted and as well as the 

 rachis compressed sparsely and deciduously villoso-paleaceous, 

 fronds a span rarely to a foot long subcoriaceous firm oblong 

 acuminate (apex pinnatifid) petiolate subhorizontal dimidiato- 

 ovate acuminate venoso-striate from 1 to (rarely) l^ inch 

 long, superior base obliquely truncate subauriculate, inferior 

 base excised for half or more of the length from the base, the 

 rest of the margin irregularly and often deeply inciso-pin- 

 natifid, segments narrow sometimes pungent, veins erecto- 

 patent conspicuous approximate once or more forked, sori 

 linear-elongated those towards the apex of the pinnee and 

 those below the costa parallel with the costa, those in the 

 auricle more patent, involucres pale-brown firm. (Tab. 

 CC. B.)~JFaIL Cat. n. 189. Metten. Asplen. p. 157. Aspl. 

 falcatum, c. abbreviatum, Kze. in Limicea, xxiv. p. 260. A. 

 semihastatum. Wall. MS. [not Kze.). Tarachia truncata, Br. 



Hah. Nepal, Wallich. N. India, Edgivorth. Srinuggur, Muorcroft. Gurwhal, 

 T. Thomson, n. 1106. Bombay, Law. Mabalablabwar, and al)ove Simla, Col. 

 Bates. Kumaon, 6400 feet elev., Thomson. Khasya, 4-G00() feet elev., Griffith, 

 Hooker and Tliomson, Simons. Sikkim-IIimalaya, Hooker and Thoinson. Mishmee, 

 Griffith. Ceylon, Mrs. Gen. Walker. Hongkong, Col. Diudop, n. 91 ; pinnas 

 broader, very obtuse, ratber deeply and obliquely crenated than sharply laciniated, 

 rachis and stipes hispido-paleaceous. — The present species of the Furcatum- 

 group of Asplenium is never more than once pinnated, however deeply pinnatifid 

 or laciniated the pinna) may be : nor do any of my numerous specimens exhii)it 

 any forms which can i>e considered as a passage to Asjjl. falcatum. Its nearest 

 attinity is perhaps witli some of the less compound forms of A. laciniatum, 

 but the evenness of the surface (beneath especially), and the short sori, will 

 afford good distinctions. My Hongkong specimens aie more likely, on further 

 investigation, to prove different: the pinnaj have more the form of those oi Aspl. 

 erectum, but the texture is firsner and more venoso-striate. and the stipes and 

 rachis are patently villoso-paleaceous. The compressed stem, which doubtless 



