143 



Nightingale, Bidwill. Otaroka Island, Cuming, n. 1417. China, Fortune, n. 100, 

 Alexander. Kakeah Islaiui (Cliinese seas ?), Herb, of U. S. Xorlti I'acif. Krpl. 

 Exp., ('. Wright. Hongkong, llilford, Urqnhnrt ; Western I'roNinccs of C'liina, 

 Col. Saul. — A really good s(iecies, 1 believe, but very ditticuU to describe satisfac- 

 torily, it is so variable, and has hence given rise to many difi'erent names. I 

 should have preferred that of Ueinvvardt, though it has never been described un- 

 der that name, for the long white silky hairs on the under side of the frond are 

 very peculiar, yet not constant, any more than the large and coarse seta- on the 

 stipites and rachises on some forms ; this character is very fallacious. The pre- 

 sence of copious setae on some specimens of the Polypod. urnatum. Wall., mainly 

 induced nje to maintain and ciiaracterize that species in the Ferns of Hongkong, 

 I.e., but I am now satisfied that the two are one. Very frequently in drying, the 

 margins of the segments of the pinnules are involute, and have probably induced 

 some botanist to place the genus in Cheilanthes and llypolepis. 



139. N. (Lastrea) rubiyinosuvi, Hook. ; cautlex ?, stipes a 

 span long paleaceous witli large lanceolate ferruginous scales 

 at the tiiickened base, the rest with the stipes and rachises 

 coarsely ferrugineo-hirsute, fronds 1-1 i- foot long suljcoria- 

 ceo-nienil)ranaceous brownish when dry, broadly ovate or 

 subdeltoid acuminate bipinnate above tripinnatc below, pri- 

 mary pinuce 4-6 inches long the basal ones petitdate broad- 

 ovate or iialf-ovate acuminate the inferior side the broadest 

 especially at the base, superior primary pinrue sessile ohlong- 

 acuininate, pinnules oblong-lanceolate deeply pinnatifid or 

 again pinnate with the segments or pinnules ol)long-ovate 

 ciliate glabrous at the margins 2-4 lines long entire or lo- 

 bato-pinnatifid, veinlets remote simj)le, sori dorsal near the 

 middle of the veinlet, involucre orbiculari-reniform entire 

 often ciliated. — Lastrea rubiginosa, Brack. Fil. U. S. ExpL 

 Exp. p. 201. Nephrodium (Lastrea) Fijiense, Hook. 2d 

 Century of Ferns, t. 67. — /3, nudicaule? ; stipes and rachises 

 destitute of paleaceous hairs. 



Hab. Sandwich Islands, Brackenridge. Naviti Levu, Fiji Islands. — ;8, nudi- 

 caule ?. Oahu, Beechey, Diet, Doitgla.i. — I am indebted, along with a most va- 

 luable series of many of the rarest of Mr. Brackenridge's Ferns of the U. S. Expl. 

 Exp., for a fine specimen of that author's Lastrea rubiginosa, which satisfies me 

 that my Nep/irodium ( LastreaJ Fijieiise is a very slight variety of it, though from 

 widely distant islands. — 1 am doubtful about the var. $, which however chiefly 

 differs in the absence of coarse paleaceous hairs on the stipes aud rachises ; 

 they may probably be very deciduous. 



140. N. (Lastrea) 3Iilnei, Hook.; caude.x ?, stipes and pri- 

 mary rachises intensely ebeneous-black glossy, frond 1 h-2 

 feet long broad-ovate acuminate membranaceous black-green 

 when dry glabrous bi-tripinnate, primary pinnoe ovate 6-10 

 inches long petiolate, secondary ones lanceolate 3-4 inches 

 broad lanceolate deeply pinnatifid, segments as well as the 



