Kirx,—On Hymenophyllum villosum. 895 
Art. LVII.—On Hymenophyllum villosum, Colenso. By T. Krr, F.L.S. 
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 12th January, 1878.] 
Tats small species has long been a source of perplexity to fern collectors 
in this colony, by the majority of whom it has been mistaken for Hymeno- 
Phyllum ciliatum, Swartz, a species of wide distribution, but only known 
in New Zealand from specimens collected in the Nelson district by Mr. 
Travers. H. villosum was originally discovered by Mr. Colenso in 1842, 
and described by him in the London Journal of Botany for 1844. Sir 
William J. Hooker, in ‘‘ Species Filicum,” referred it to H. polyanthos, (3. 
sanguinolentum, & view which has been adopted by Sir J oseph D. Hooker in 
his ‘‘ Flora Nove-Zelandie " and * Handbook of the New Zealand Flora.” 
It must, however, be regarded as a distinct species, having a wide subalpine 
and alpine range in New Zealand, although I am not aware of its occur- 
rence elsewhere. I am glad to say that Mr. Baker, who has kindly 
compared my South Island specimens with those originally sent to Kew by 
Mr. Colenso, agrees with me as to its specifie validity. 
Hymenophyllum villosum. 
Colenso in London Journal of Botany, vol. IN., p. 35: Tasmanian Philosophical 
Journal, vol. II., p. 185. 
Rhizome wiry, Ve Btipes 1-2 inches long, narrowly winged or 
wingless, villous ; frond 2-5 inches high, 1-2 inches broad, opaque, of a dull 
brownish-green; broadly ovate, or ovate-acuminate, tripinnate, villous; 
main rachis 1-3 inches long, narrowly winged, flexuose, villous; primary 
and secondary pinne deltoid; tertiary pinne twice or thrice divided into 
narrow linear forked segments. Sori terminal and axillary, free, orbicular, 
broader than the segments, 2—valved to the base; valves entire. 
Hab. On rocks and trees in moist situations. 
North Island: Ruatahuna—W. Colenso, 1842; summit of Tarawera 
(amongst moss), 4,000 feet—T. K. 
South Island: Mountains of the Amuri, Nelson, 8,000-4,000 feet— 
T. K.; mountains above Broken River, Canterbury—J. D. Enys! ; Upper 
Waimakariri and Arthur's Pass, 2,000-3,000 feet—J. D. Enys and T. Kirk; 
Ashburton—T. H. Potts ' ; the Routeburn and mountains above Lake Harris, 
Otago, 4,000 feet—T. K. 
I have seen specimens from other parts of the South Island, but am 
ignorant of the precise localities in which they were collected. In all 
probability our plant is common throughout the colony at elevations above 
the highest limit of H. polyanthos, although but rarely occurring below. 
The fronds of our plant are more highly divided than those of any other 
New Zealand species, and presont, cspecially in small specimens, a peculiar 
