NEPHRODIUM, § LASTREA. 119 



has the upper fertile portion contracted, but the whole is bipinnate with subhastatc 

 and subpinnatiful ])inniiles, and may safely, I think, take place with our var. y. 



Ckylon. Var. yS, Gardner, n. 13G4. 



Malay Islands and Pkninsula. Java, Blume, var. /3 (Aspid. uliginosum, 

 Blume, in Herb, nostr., and A. adnatuni, 131. in Herb, nostr.), De Vrie.se and 

 Teij.imann, n. 587, 7; Penang, liudy Dalhousle ; Java, De Vriese and TeiJHinann, 

 n. 289 and 588. 



Sandwich Islands, alt. 8,000-10,000 feet, Brackenridge, in Herb, nostr. 

 (Lastrea truncata. Brack. Fil. U. S. E.rpl. Exped. p. 195. t. 27, excellent). The 

 ajjpearance of this plant (which Brackenridge justly says is closely allied to Aspid. 

 elo)if/a/u)ti, Sw., our F. -mas) is remarkable, for the species has hitiierto been de- 

 tected nowhere else in the Polynesian Islands, nor in any part of the great Aus- 

 tralian continent. 



When it is considered that N. Filix-mas, in England alone, has fourteen " prin- 

 cipal variations" enumerated, it will not surprise any one to learn that the same 

 species found in very different parts of the globe, especially of the southern he- 

 misphere, varies in a still more remarkable degree; and hence the numerous syno- 

 nyms here adduced, mostly from authentic specimens in my herbarium ; many 

 more might be added if it was worth the trouble. I would, in particular, wish 

 to direct the attention of South African botanists to the N. (Lastrea) inrnpiale of 

 Schlechtendal, to endeavour to determine if that be not a very compound form 

 of F.-mas. 



Mr. Bentham's Aspid. Championi (our Aspid. n. 35), taken up from imperfect spe- 

 cimens in my herbarium, is, I regret to say, only N. Filuv-mas, a common bipinnated 

 form. I spoke, under n. 35 of my specimens having been mislaid. I have since 

 detected them in their right place, along with other specimens of F.-mas, which 

 I had overlooked in my search. 



100. N. (Lastrea) microstegium, Hook. ; caudex ?, stipes a 

 span long stout tawny-brown laxly scaly, rachis and costoe 

 stout stramineous, frond 2-2| feet long broad-lanceolate 

 membranaceous glabrous acuminate bipinnate, pinnoe sessile 

 4-5 of the lowest pairs shorter 4 inches long sterile and with 

 broader and more approximate pinnae intermediate ones 6-8 

 inches long from a broad base oblong gradually acuminated, 

 pinnules f to nearly an inch long from a broad sessile and quite 

 adnate base pyramidally and obtusely acuminated pinnatifid 

 about halfway down to the costse all connected at the very 

 base by a narrow costal wing, lobes or segments small ovate 

 blunt entire, veinlets distant, sori minute 4-G on each lobe 

 in two series halfway between the costule at the margin, in- 

 volucre very small reniform pale greenish-brown. (Tak. 

 CCL.) 



Ilab. Khasia, temperate region, Hooker f I. and Thomson. — I find only one spe- 

 cimen of this in Hooker and Thomson's Indian collection. It is rcmai-kal)le for 

 the broad adnate base of the pinnules, which, tapering gradually from that l)ase 

 towards the apex, have quite a pyramidal form, and there is always a very narrow 

 membranaceous margin or wing to the secondary rachises, which connects the 

 several pinnules. The lower and shorter pinnae of the frond, which are sterile, 

 have broader segments, and are rather pinniitifid than pinnate. 



