Corzx80,— Descriptions of new Indigenous Plants. 255 
Class III. Onyprogamta, 
Orver I. FILICES. 
Genus 5. Hymenophyllum, Smith. 
1, Hymenophyllum melanocheilos, sp. nov. 
Plant very small, creeping, glabrous, very thin, light green, cellules. 
large ; rhizome filiform. Fronds rather distant on rhizome, upright, 
simple and bifid, elliptic, linear and  spathulate, obtuse, 1-2 inch 
high, about 1 line wide, margins often thickened, black and shining ; 
laciniate-serrate, serratures distant, sometimes dark and rigid, and shining 
like margins ; midrib thick, glossy, dark like stipe, no lateral veins ; stipe 
short, 1-2 lines long, not winged, glabrous, dark brown. Involucre single 
at tip of frond, elliptie, free, less than 1 line long, flattish, slightly convex ; 
valves free to base, margins entire, black bordered ; borders shining ; recep- 
tacle included ; sori few, large. 
Hab. Woods, Whangaroa, County of Mongonui; 1884: Mr. R. W. 
Rowson. 
Obs. A very peculiar little species, and one of the smallest known of 
the genus. Its affinity is with H. marginatum, Hook. and Grev., of Port 
Jackson, Australia (a scarce and little-known fern), from which species, 
however, it is very distinct. It has also some affinity with H. parvifolium, 
Baker, an East-Indian fern of about the same size, but is, also, quite dis- 
tinct. 
2. H. lophocarpum, sp. nov. 
A climbing fern, mostly pendulous from upper parts of trees. Rhizome 
creeping, long, branched, hairy. Fronds rather distant on rhizome, glab- 
rous, spreading, flat and slightly waved, transparent, light green when 
young darker in age, elastic and curled up when dry, rhombic- or ovate- 
acuminate, apical portion often narrow-elongate, usually dimidiate at base, 
24-4 inches long, twice the length of stipe, 3-pinnatifid; pinns alternate, 
sometimes very close and sub-imbrieate, the lowest pinna solitary and very 
short; rhachises, main and secondary, dark, flexuose, finely tubereulate 
and striate, winged; wing wide and mostly waved; secondary segments, 
sub-flabellate, not branched on the lower or outer side; veins dark; ulti- Pm — 
mate segments or lobes rather long, linear, obtuse, apices rounded, nerves | 
green not extending to margin; margins entire; cellules large, of vari- 
ous shapes and sizes, mostly sub-orbicular and oblong. Stipe stout, 
1-14 inch long, blackish, shining, striate, roughish, narrowly winged 
to base, and (with rhachis) slightly hairy (very hairy when young); hairs 
scattered, long, brownish, tortuous, jointed and transparent. Involueres 
free, large, sub-orbicular, loose, rumpled or bladdery, wider than lobes, 
turgid, much larger than sori, confined to upper portion of frond 
