866  Transactions.— Botany. 
quired to connect those species above referred to in a natural sequence. It 
is one of those ferns which, though distinct, it is difficult to describe specifi- 
cally in words, as Sir W. J. Hooker, long ago, often remarked in his valuable 
works on ferns. Having, however, lately obtained specimens of Hymeno- 
phyllum tunbridyense (vera) from England, I am positive of its specific 
distinction; the typical British plant being wholly glabrous, having its 
rhachis strongly winged throughout (extending downward in some instances 
to the upper part of its stipe), its lobes always narrow “‘ linear," and serrate 
not slashed, teeth spinulose and hard not thin, with only 2-8 teeth at the 
apex of a lobe, and its fructification invariably supra-axillary and never 
terminal. But with botanists who make but one species of those two 
widely differing ferns—H. tunbridgense and H. wilsoni—of course this little 
fellow would be only deemed a variety of H. tunbridgense. 
TRICHOMANES VENUSTULA. 
Plant creeping, epiphytical, pendulous on trunks of living trees ; rhizome 
capillary, creeping, woolly. 
Fronds pendulous, pinnate, 4-6 (sometimes 7) jugate, dark-green, gla- 
brous, semi-transparent, oblong, somewhat deltoid, obtuse, 1-2 inches long, 
6-12 lines wide ; pinne petiolate, close not crowded, tolerably regular, lower- 
most pair mostly opposite and generally the largest, flabellate and rhom- 
boid-acuminate, sub-pinnatifid or deeply cut on both sides, trinerved, each 
nerve a little waved and giving out pinnate veins, veinlets simple or forked, 
margin slightly sinuous; segments generally 8-5 on a pinna, obtuse or 
retuse, cuneate at base, middle one linear and much produced ; involucres 
scattered on both edges of pinnæ, 2-5 on a pinna, upper half free or with 
one side attached to frond, tubular or slightly funnel-shaped, mouth much 
dilated, plane, equal all round: receptacle setaceous and exserted, 2-6 
lines long, curved ; rhachis winged slightly at apex; stipe 9-12 lines long, 
capillary, flexuose; both stipe and rhachis green, nearly same colour as 
frond: stipe always black at base. 
Hab.—On trunks of living trees, dense shady damp forests, west slopes of 
Ruahine mountain range, head of the River Manawatu; 1878-9. E 
This little novelty is nearly allied to T'richomanes venosum, Brown; differ- 
ing, however, in several respects, especially in its sub-flabellate trinerved 
pinne, in its rhachis not being winged, and in its involucres, which are also 
numerous and scattered on both edges of its pinnz. 
While growing pretty plentifully in that locality, though only hitherto 
detected on a few trees, it is not very often found in fruit; at the same time 
some insect seems to be very fond of its fronds, which are generally more 
or less gnawed. Showing, in this respect also, a great difference to its ally 
T. venosum, which, on the neighbouring tree-ferns, luxuriates untouched in 
