80 ASPLEMUM, § EUASPLENIUM. 



f. 3, 5, 6. (A. umljrosum, Schrad. and Klfs., A. cuneatum, 

 Klf., Polypodiuni scrratuni, Aubl. and Lam., Aspl. Schottii, 

 iV., A. prolixuni, Schrad., and A. pyramitlatuin, Liebni., are 

 included, probal)ly quite correctly, under A. auritum, Sw., 

 and under nearly as many designated varieties as there are 

 names, by Mettenius.) 



Hab. The same regions as the first or normal form, and I shall be brief in 

 noticing a few of the localities from my herbarium. Venezuela, Fendler, n. 141. 

 New Granada, Schlim, n. 60. Jamaica, Hartweg, n. 1503 (sulnar. pinnatifdtim. 

 Tab. Nostr. CCVII. This, though not authentic " macilcntum," — not derived 

 from an authentic source, — is, nevertheless, the most i)ecuiiar of the forms; 

 for, owing to the rcmarkai)le dccurrency of the pinna% these are so united as to 

 constitute a truly pinnatifid frond). British Guiana, 6'cAow*«>-y/t, n. 1108. Co- 

 lumbia, Moritz, u. 100 (original specimens from Ur. Klotzsch, but they are in 

 reality a most trifling variety, with and without auricles, and obtuse or quite 

 acuminated pinna;) ; Holton, n. 62. Venezuela, Fendler, n. IA2. Sierra Nevada, 

 Rio Hacha, New Granada, Schlim, n. 1032. Caracas, Linden, n. 532. Mexico, 

 Galeotti, n. 6392. 



Var. rig'ulum ; pinnae deeply pinnatifid or more or less 

 pinnate. — A. rigidum, Siu, " Vetensk. Acad. Hand/. 1817, P' 

 68." A. auritum, var. d. /3, Metten. Aspkn. p. 104. A. dis- 

 persum, Kze. in Linnaa, xxiii. p. 304. Metten. Fit. Hort. 

 Lips. p. 76. t. 9. /. 5, 6. A. recognitum, Kze. Herb., and 

 Fee, Gen. p. 191 {name only). Lonchitis dentata, etc., Plum. 

 Fil. t. 46. 



Hab. Tropical and subtropical America : fronds often received with the two 

 preceding forms, evidently gathered as the same species, and, not unfrequently, 

 derived from the same caudex. Martinique, Plumter. Portorico, Schwanecke 

 (Kunze's A. recoynitum, the same caudex affording fronds which are //. auritum 

 normale, and fronds almost wholly bipinnate, marked "A. rigidum " by Moore). 

 Caracas, Birschel. Brazil, Swainson (fronds simple pinnate, others bipin- 

 nate). Organ Mountain, (all bipinnate), Rio, Gardner, n. 180, and Scrra de 

 Predade, Gardner, n. 531 1 (all bipinnate, and with all the rachises broadly 

 winged), Sellnw, Mr. For, Tweedie (exactly A. dispersum, Kze.). Peru, Matheivs, 

 n. 1853, deeply and regularly pinnatifid, the lowest superior lobe forming an 

 auricle. Tarapota, Spruce, n. 4677 (A. dispersum, Kze.). Mexico, elev. 3-4000 

 feet, Galeotli, n. 6391. West Indies, Dominica, Couliaban Mountains, Dr. 

 Imray, n. 81. Bourbon!, Herb. Mns. Paris (piniife pinnatifid, and pinnate) : I 

 may add, too, that my Neilgherri specimens (mentioned under N. auritum verum) 

 exhibit some pinna' of var. macilentnm and others bipinnate, as in the present 

 variety. — Nothing but a careful study of numerous suites of specimens, such as 

 I am privileged to have before me, of this Protean Asplenium, can, or ought 

 to, satisfy any one that all the forms enumerated above (Mettenius brings 

 under it eleven varieties or subvarieties), and another (.7. dispersum) retained by 

 him as a species, must be brought within the limits of one and the same species, 

 A. auritum of Swartz. But this is not all that needs consideration; Mettenius, 

 in his ' Adnotationes,' under A. frayrans (it is to be lamen ed that he has not 

 favoured the jjublic with more such adnofationes), says of A. auritum, Kze., A. 

 dispersum, Kze., A. frayrans, Sw., A. Me.ricanum, Marl, et Gal., A. fienicidaceum, 

 U.B.K., together with A. delicatulum, Pr.,that they are "species certe arctissime 



