212 POLYPODIUM, § EUPOLYPODIUM. 



the margin more or less concealed by the copious scales and 

 hairs, — Kze. mLinnaa, x'lu. p. 132. Metten. Polypod. p. 71. 

 Acrostichum, Langsd. et Fisch. Fil. v. t. 2 {young and imper- 

 fect). JVilld. Sp. PL V. p. 113. Polypod. hirsutissimum, 

 Raddi, Fil. Bras. p. 17. t. 26. Bory, Voy. Dup. Crypt, p. 

 262. /. 32. P. sepultum, Kaulf. En. Fil. p. 104. Gonio- 

 phlebium a7id Lepicystis, /. Sm. P. tricholepis, Schrad. 

 P. Raddii, Desv. P. rufulum, Pr. Del. Prag. Marginaria, 

 Pr. Tent. Pterid. ;>. 189. 



Hab. Tropical America, abundant: TiraiW, Gardner, n.b29i%,2\, Tiveedie, n. 

 559 (South Brazil), Brackenridge, Raddi, n. 41, Spnxce, 7t. 3798 (Rio Negro). 

 Guiana, Schomburgk, and others. Isle of Trinidad, South Atlantic, Lefroy. Cen- 

 tral America, Cuming, n. 128-1. Panama, Seemann, n. 982. Venezuela, Fendler, 

 n. 343 (a very beautiful var. ; the tuft exhibits the young fronds aureo-nitent, and 

 the old ones with scales apparently bleached white with age). Mexico, Seemann, 

 n. 1933 (pinna; not dwarfed at the base: Lepicvstis sepultum, /. Sm. in Seem. 

 Bot. of the Herald). Vera Cruz, on Oaks, 3500-5000 feet, n. 627G and 6308, 

 Galeotti. Tarapota, Eastern Peru, Sjjruce, n. 4654. Galapagos, Capf. Wood. — 

 If, as I quite think, all the references I have brought under this species be cor- 

 rect, it is hard to say what are the limits of species among Ferns. If we take 

 the opposite extremes here brought under review, they look most distinct even 

 as to form, though I believe the most dependible marks to be derived from the 

 long-attenuated base of the frond, owing to the gradual dwarfing of the lower 

 pinnffi ; yet this character is not constant, and the variation observed in the palea- 

 ceous clothing of the fronds is quite remarkable, and may contribute to throw 

 doubts on the stability of other generally acknowledged species of this group. 



113. P. (Eupolypodium) sporadolepis, Eat. {not Kze.?) ; 

 caudex long creeping thick as a goose-quill almost black 

 thick paleaceous at the extremity with dark-brown close- 

 pressed subulate scales, stipites dark-brown almost black 

 glossy deciduously scaly, fronds 6 inches to a foot long 2-4 

 inches wide oblong-acuminate truncate at the base coriaceo- 

 membranaceous opaque, naked above, beneath scurfy with 

 small dirty-brown scales, pinnated nearly to the apex and 

 terminated by a caudate pinna pinnatifid at its base, pinnae 

 horizontal remote distant |-| of an inch apart from a con- 

 tracted base linear-oblong obtuse entire scarcely repand at 

 the margin (sterile fronds rather pinnatifid than pinnate with 

 broader and subspathulate segments), sori copious in two 

 series halfway between the costule and the margin sometimes 

 covering the whole back of the pinnule, rachis black scurfy 

 with dirty-looking scales. — P. sporadolepis, var. /3, Eaton, in 

 Fil. Wright, et Fendl. p. 198, name only {surely not Kze. in 

 Metten. Polyp, p. 67). 



Ilab. Tovar, Venezuela, Fendler, n. 240, Ecuador, Pichincha, Jameson, w. 17 and 

 271 (one specimen with the barren fronds deeply pinnatifid, while the fertile ones 



