154 XKPHHOLKPIS. 



Gardner, n. 187, 1233, Spruce, n. 20, 21, 1292; Guiana, Parker. Sagot, n. 724, 

 137; Surinam (Z)e Frzese) ; Panama, re. 258, //ayes; Venezuela, /^e>ifZ/er, w. 420 ; 

 Columbia, Cuming, n. 1263. West Indies: Cuba, Wright, n. 1011 (N. punctu- 

 lata, Eat. Fil. Wright and Fendl. p. 212) ; Jamaica, Pwrrfze ,- Dominica, /mray. — 

 ^. Singapore, Schomburgk, n. 23. Ceram and Banda, De Vriese and Teijsmann. 

 — I bavc long foreseen the difficulty attending the successful study of the species of 

 this genus, of which Presl alone enumerates twenty-nine species. My extensive 

 series of specimens, from various parts of the world, will not justify me in following 

 his steps, and if I have under-estimated the amount, it is yet, I believe, the safest 

 and wisest course to pursue. As hitherto described, many of them are utterly 

 unintelligible. Of the present species, different as it may appear in its most perfect 

 form (as represented, for instance, by Schkuhr) from some states of N. exaltata, 

 there are intermediate grades which I cannot safely refer to the one or the 

 other. 



4. N. obliterata, Hook. ; cauclex very long filiform here 

 and there subsquamoso-tomentose rooting with few short 

 fibres, stipites scattered short 1-2 inches long and as well as 

 the rachis dark-brown subpubescent, fronds 3-12-14 inches 

 long oblong or linear-oblong membranaceous invariably- 

 black when dry, pinnated, pinnre from \-\\ inch long hori- 

 zontally patent rather distant dimidiato-oblong obtuse or acute 

 rarely acuminate obliquely cuneate at the base sessile straight 

 or subfalcate, superior base truncate and parallel with the 

 rachis, frequently with a sharp auricle, the margin entire 

 or crenate or lobato-dentate especially on the fertile pin use, 

 costae slender flexuose, veinlets forked upper branch bearing 

 sori at the apex a little distance from the margin, involucre 

 small cordato-reniform soon obliterated. — Nephrodium obli- 

 teratum. Brown, Prodr. Fl. Nov. Roll. p. 148. Aspid. undu- 

 latum, Sw. Syn. Fil. p. 45? {excl. Syn. Cav., fide IVilld.). 

 Willd. Sp. PL v. p. 223 ? Nephrod. subpectinatum, Bl. En. 

 Fil. Jew. p. 145. N. trichomanoides. /. Sj/i. in Hook. Bot. 

 Journ. ux. p. 413 [name only). N. repens, Brack. Fil. U. S. 

 Expl. Exp. p. 209. 



Hab. Tropical Australia, Sir Jos. Banks : Endeavour River, All. Cunningham; 

 M'Leay River, Dr. Beckler {F. Mueller). Tropical West Africa : Sierra Leone, 

 Afzelius ; Angiama, Lower Niger, climbing on small trees and adhering to them 

 like ivy, caudices 10 feet long, Barter, in Baikie's Niger E.rped. n. 146 and 292 

 (some of the pinnae 2 inches long). Fernando Po, Barter, G. Mann, n. 246. 

 Society Islands, Niglilingale . Fiji Islands and Samoan Islands, Brackenridge, 

 Milne, n. 299, Seemann,n. 831. India: Java, Blume, in Herb, nostr. ; Luzon, 

 Cuming, n. 101 ; Ceram, De Vriese and Teijsmann, n. 235; Ceylon, Gardner, n. 

 1094 and 1376. — A well-marked species, wliich though varying in the size and 

 somewhat in the form of the pinnules, is yet easy to be recognized. In the long 

 creeping caudex and scattered stipites it is peculiar in the genus, and the pinnae 

 are not distinctly articulated. 



5. N. davallioides, Kze. ; caudex very short erect stolo- 



