NEIMIROUIUM, § LASTREA. 91 



of any useful diagnostic remarks of authors, to say which belongs to tlie one and 

 which to the other species. I fear the two are not really different ; and so difficult 

 is it to see an involucre, that hut for Metfeiiius having so accurately described it, 

 I should have preferred to retain it in Poli/podium (§ Phegopteris). 



53. N. (Lastrea) conterminum, Desv. ; " caiulex ? (stout 

 erect in some of my specimens), stipes 1-2 feet long, fronds 

 rigidl)' membranaceous on botli sides at the costaj more 

 thickly puhcrulo-hispid, beneath laxly clothed with minute 

 glands, 1-2 feet long lanceolate or linear-lanceolate attenuated 

 at each extremity acuminate pinnated, pinnoe numerous ses- 

 sile subopposite in the middle the longest 1^-4 inches long 

 4-6 lines wide rectangularly patent from a broader base 

 elongato-oblong gradually attenuated acuminate pinnatifid, 

 the produced apex subentire, lower ones gradually diminish- 

 ing, the lowest remote very abbreviated, segments oblong 

 subfalcate obtuse entire, basal ones on the superior side the 

 largest, costules genei-ally spreading at an angle of .35-45° 

 from the costa^ sori nearer the margin than the costule, invo- 

 lucre reniform conspicuous membranaceous setose at the 

 margin and clothed with sessile glands." Metten. — Desv. 

 Mem. Soc. Linn. \i. ji. 255. Aspidiam, Willd. Sp. PL p. 249. 

 Metten. Aspid. p. 7^. Polystichum, Gaud, in Frei/c. Voy. 

 Bot. p. 328. Lastrea, Pr. Polypod. Plumieri, Besv. Journ. 

 Bot. iv. /?. 265. Nephrodium Panamense, Pr. Eel. Hmik. i. 

 p. 35. Lastrea, Pr. Aspid, polyphyllum, Klfs. in Flor. 

 1823.^.302; E/i. 338. Lastrea, Pr. Aspid. blepharochlrena, 

 Kze. (in part.) Polypod. concinnum, Sieb. Fl. Martin, p. 

 241. Aspid. rivulorum, Kze. in Linncea, ix. p. 43. — Var. 

 Thouarsiaiiun ; fronds exceedingly coriaceous villoso-tomen- 

 tose. — Polypod. tomentosum, Tkouars, Ft. Trist. d'Acvgna, n. 

 31. Aspid. bifidum, Carrnich. in Linn. Trans, v. 12. p. 511. 



Hah. Tropical America. Specimens in my herbarium I refer to this arc from 

 West Indies, Guadeloupe, V Ilevminier ; Cuba, C. Viright, n. 721 and 820; 

 Jamaica, Macfadyen, Bancroft, Wilson, Alexander; Martinique, Belanger, n. 

 447; Porto Rico, Venezuela, Fendler, n. 178; ?&ni, Matheivs, n. 1248, 1849, 

 3286, Lechler,n. 1505; Ecuador, Spruce, n. 5714, Tunguragua, n. 5372, Rio 

 Verde, n. 5297 and 297 ^.' n. 5717, Tarapota, n. 4038 ; Valparaiso, King ,- Bo- 

 livia, Bridges; \eut7A\fi\n, Fendler, ii. 178; Mexico, Galleot ( i, n. d'i^ij ; Brazil, 

 l\Ir. Fox, Forbes, Gardner, n. 5318, 5310. — Var. /8. Thouarslanum ; Tristan 

 d'Acuidia, Thouars, Carmichael. — Best distinguished perhaps by the copious 

 dwarf pinnas at the lower part of the frond, and the rigid habit. This species 

 has been confounded with A', rivulorum, from which it is distinct, Metlenius 

 assures us, by the absence of tlie gland at the insertion of the pinna, and by 

 the oblique antrorse segments. — 1 refer hitlier, with some little hesitation, the 

 Pnlgpod. tonuntoHum of Thouars, because Carmichael places it under Aspidiinn, 

 although Thouars says, twice over, " jiunclis fructiferis nudis," and my own ex- 



