3 cal ĖS à 
SEYCHELLES AND THE ALDABRA GROUP. 417 
canaliculati, sursum anguste alati, ad 7 em. longi. Lamina pinnata, lanceolata, 
usque ad 20 em. longa, 5 em. lata, versus apicem pinnatifidum seu grosse serratum, 
breviter acuminata, viridis, omnino glabra, textura earnosula. Rachis complanata, 
a basi ad apicem alata, alis 1 mm. latis. Pinne numeros, 23 em. long, 1 em. 
late, suberectee, inferiores vix abbreviate, breviter petiolatz, ad rachin articulate, 
basi inferiore cuneate, superiore truncatie, sæpe subauriculate, marginibus apiceque 
obtuso grosse serratis. Vene indistincte, simplices, oblique. Sori mediales, 1-2 mm. 
longi, 1 mm. lati, indusiis margine integris. 
Silhouette, Gardiner | 
This new species resembles the Australian 4. obtusatum, Forst., in colour and texture 
and the short thick sori, but in general habit it is not unlike 4. tenerum, from which it 
differs in its short sori, fleshy texture, and winged rachis. It is a well-known fact that 
several pinnate species of Aspleniwm vary extraordinarily in cutting. The most cut 
forms are often dareoid, i. e. the ultimate segments are narrow with the sori marginal. 
Such dareoid varieties look very different from the pinnate forms of the same species, 
and they are commonly described as proper species. It has, however, been proved by 
botanists who have studied the different forms in the field that certain old species of 
Darea really are dareoid forms of species which, in the “normal” state, are pinnate 
only. Thus is Darea bifida, Bory, the dareoid variety of A. lineatum, Sw.; D. Belangeri, 
Bory, of A. tenerum.  Dareoid forms are especially common in the Mascarenes and 
South Africa, and some of them are not known in the pinnate state. My proposed new 
species, 4. complanatum, may be the pinnate form of a species which so far is known as 
dareoid only, viz. Asplenium borbonicum, Hook., a species from Réunion and Mauritius, 
but not known from the Seychelles. It is very probable that such is the case, but 
I cannot prove it at present, and I therefore think it best to describe the new form as a 
new species. 
32. ASPLENIUM CAUDATUM, Forst.; Baker, Fl. Maur. 488; C. Chr. Ind. 104. 
Mahé, Horne, 668! Thomasset! Silhouette, Gardiner! “A typical fern of the 
1000-2000 feet zone in fairly open places.” 
Var. minor, C. Chr. (var. nov.) :—Lamina 20 em. longa, pinnis 3 cm. longis, 1-1 cm. 
latis, apice acutis nec caudatis. 
Mahé and Silhouette, Gardiner! j ; 
This variety is a very doubtful form, in size and general habit very much resembling 
A. pellucidum, Lam., to which species Baker (Fl. Maur. 481) referred a up pim 
the Seychelles (coll. Kirk!). It differs from that species in its lower pinne : z erm 
all reduced. I think I am right in considering it a small form of A. cauda um, ^ 
which it differs in its small size and non-caudate pinn:e, whilst it agrees with it - = our, 
texture, pubescence, and other characters. A specimen from Silhouette (Gardiner) is 
exactly intermediate between the large 4. caudatun and the variety. 
A. caudatum is a cosmopolitan tropical species. s 
SECOND SERIES.—BOTANY, VOL. VII. 
