III.—BOTA N Y. 
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Arr. LXVILI.— Notes on a Lomaria collected in the Malvern District. 
By T. H. Ports, F.L.S. 
[.Read before the Philips Institute of Canterbury, 6th April, 1876.] 
Lomaria duplicata, n. sp. 
Ruowz, very long, slender or moderately stout, creeping, brown. 
Fronds, few, barren and fertile, of various habits, single, double, rarely 
treble; coriacious, pinnate, 9-24 inches long, sub-erect or pendulous; upper 
surface, bright green shaded, lightest on the margin of pinnule; under 
surface, uniform light green. 
Stipes, stout, with few scales, scaly at base, often forked, rarely twice 
forked at varying distances from the base, pendulous. 
Rachis, smooth, with few scales above and below, sometimes branched. 
Barren pinnules, finely toothed, few, alternate, less commonly in pairs, 
ensiform or lanceolate, ascending, 2-8 inches long, stipitate, the upper 
adnate to the rachis, acuminate. 
Costa, naked, rarely chaffy. 
Veins, numerous, simple or forked, ascending. 
Fertile pinnules, narrow, on long, stout, erect, separate fronds, single 
or double, longer by one-third and upwards than those bearing barren 
pinnules. 
This curious form of Lomaria was found growing on poor whitish cob, 
beneath a rather dense undergrowth, in a Fagus forest in the Malvern dis- 
trict, about 1,500 feet above sea level. It appears to be a late grower, as 
but few fertile fronds were met with amongst upwards of one hundred 
plants seen by the writer, whilst those of L. procera, discolor, fluviatilis, 
alpina, patersoni, etc., were observed in great abundance (March 16). 
One plant that came under notice had barren fronds single and double, 
whilst every fertile frond was double, giving the fern a remarkable appear- 
ance; the long short stipes carrying the fertile pinnules high above the 
delicately-shaped, pendulous, barren fronds. 
The writer proposes to name this plant provisionally Lomaria duplicata, 
from its peeuliar habit of bearing barren and fertile fronds in duplicate. 
