592 Transactions. 
on the wet rocky walls of open ravines, situations which lie outside the 
shelter of the forest altogether. In such exposed localities as that last 
named extreme and rapid fluctuations in the atmospheric humidity will 
undoubtedly be — and it is to be noted that the only Hymeno- 
phyllaceae which can endure these conditions are those which can adopt 
most typically the pm growth-form—viz., H. villosum, H. multifidum, 
Н. rarum, H. Armstrongii, and Н. minimum 
The frond of Н. Armstrongii sometimes possesses a strong, dark, 
thiekened margin, and this character was at one time interpreted as 
an evidence of reduction. It was also supposed to constitute a distinet 
rong 
lacked the marginal thickening. It has long been recognized, however, 
sak the marginal thickening is a very variable character, and for many 
rs the name H. Armstrongii has not been used. The latter name has, 
ately been че again to this pes instead of the other, on the ground 
of rity. e found fron this species showing every stage in 
the desde e the marginal CER dr This begins at the tips of 
the strong marginal teeth, and shows itself clearly as a brown coloration 
extending to the base of a tooth, and being continued along the margin of 
“ M os to the tooth next below. It would seem to be best interpreted 
s been done by Giesenhagen (12, p. 440)—as a means for keeping 
the ‘itl f frond flat and rigid, and for се де curling and tearing of 
the lamin 
Cheeseman notes (6, p. 939) that H. minimum “ appea 
— eria never found far from the sea." I have found it i in а Westland 
, yet widely separated, ation in each case far from the 
sea-coast. These three localities are the scrub-covered terminal moraine 
of the Franz Josef Glacier, in south Westland ; low shrubby trees on the 
Koiterangi Plain, in the Hokitika River valley ; and damp rocky walls in 
the lower part of the Otira Gorge.* I may add that Mr. G. Anderson, of 
West Oxford, Canterbury, has recently forwarded me specimens of the 
same species collected by him from a rock-face in Gamman's Creek, near 
Mount Oxford, Canterbury. It is evident, therefore, that this species is 
by no means a littoral plant; but it certainly appears to have a somewhat 
discontinuous distribution. Owing to its inutive size, however, it is, 
like the preceding species, liable to be overlooked. Judging from the few 
localities in which I observed it, H. minimum is a low epiphyte or rupestral 
plant, which, like H. Armstrongii, grows in mats in short moss, and in 
exposed situations at higher altitudes adopts a very close mat growth- 
form. The sori, which, convey aed to the size of the plant, are large, are 
borne terminally, one on each frond. Occasionally instances may be found 
in which a frond bears two sori. 
Judging from their occurrence in Westland, H. T pericu and 
H. peltatum are complementary in their distribution, and a comparison 
that this is undoubtedly the case. The former species is extremely abun- 
dant throughout the lowland forests of Westland as a low epiphyte, and 
* Since writing the above I have found H. minimum growing abundantly in thick 
mate, on boulders and on the ground in moss, in damp wooded situations, pes 
considerable length of the Taramakau River terrace, five miles below Otira, at ti- 
tude of about t. From its notable abundance in this locality it seems probable 
that this species is by no means seanty in its distribution 
