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4 XIX. On the Ferns of the Seychelles and the Aldabra Group. By CARL CHRISTENSEN, 
E M.Sc. (Copenhagen). (Communicated by Prof. J. STANLEY GARDINER, M.A., 
4 F.R.S., FES.) 
(Plate 45.) 
Read 6th June, 1912, 
ON the suggestion of Dr. O. Stapf, Keeper of the Herbarium and Library, Royal 
Botanic Gardens, Kew, I undertook the determination of a collection of ferns made in 
the Seychelles by Professor J. Stanley Gardiner during the ‘ Sealark ' Expedition in 1908, 
and the preparation of a complete list of the ferns of the Seychelles. It is true, the 
islands are not a ¢erra nova for pteridography ; nevertheless a revision of the fern-flora 
of the islands was thought desirable so as to bring it into line with modern ideas of 
- pteridography. | 
The ferns of the Seychelles have been dealt with twice by J. G. Baker*, and later on 
by M. Kuhn +, who published a list of the ferns occurring in the islands. Whilst Baker 
_knew 74 species of true ferns indigenous in the island, Kuhn enumerated 76 species, and 
“my list includes 78 species. 
It was an easy task to name the specimens in accordance with Baker’s treatment, but 
s my ideas of the delimitation of not a few species differ essentially from those of Baker, 
who takes the species in a much broader sense, I examined the material critically and 
ompared it with specimens which the authorities of Kew kindly forwarded to me for 
hat purpose. For this my best thanks are due to Sir David Prain and Dr. Stapf. As 
will be seen, I do not agree with all of Baker's determinations, and therefore my list differs 
n certain points from his. My nomenclature too is, of course, very iei from his. 
With few exceptions, I follow the nomenclature of my ‘ Index Filicum, which is quoted 
under each species. In that work the essential synonyms and references will also be 
und, wherefore it is unnecessary to repeat them here. : 
So far as is known, the Seychelles are inhabited by 78 —— of ferns, d p 
- (Ceropteris calomelanos, which probably is introduced) indigenous 1n "— t 
these species were collected in the higher islands, Mahé and Silhouette ; apice vid 
Were also found in Bird Island and Long Island. No fern is known from the o 2s 
islands (Praslin, La Digue, and Curieuse) Prof. Gardiner has added four species 
the fern-flora of the islands. 
j . (1875), pp. 509-518, 
* J. G. Baker: « On the Seychelles Fern-Flora,” in Trans. R. Irish Acad. vol. xxv. (1875), pp 
tabb, 28-31; ‘Flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles’ (1877). a^ in Von der Decken’s Reisen, vol. iii. part 1 
T M. Kuhn: Cryptogame vasculares, in * Botanik von Ost-Afrika ' in l 
9 
. SECOND SERIES,—BOTANY, VOL. Vil. 
