598 Transactions. 
and in the dark and at times almost black colour of its fronds, it may be 
compared with such other extreme shade- and damp-loving ferns as Blech- 
num nigrum and Leptopteris swperba. Its fronds are frequently covered 
with small epiphyllous mosses and hepaties. Although T. strictum is more 
wide-ranging than the other species, I have observed that in Westland it is 
for the most part confined to the interior of the hollow fern-covered stumps 
of large decayed trees or to tree-base crevices or the under-side of over- 
hanging banks. In such situations it has to be searched for before it can 
be seen. 
In their favourite localities these two species occur mostly in colonies, 
and prothalli and young sporelings can commonly be found in abundance. 
Whether it is that in these sheltered places these species are avoiding the 
light, or seeking extremely humid conditions, or rather that they here find 
a more suitable substratum for a nursery-bed than on the leaf-covered, 
growth-form, they are altogether dependent upon spore-germination for 
their continuance and spread. Probably the last-mentioned of these 
cushion-like thickenings behind the meristem 
; , ошу one or two. With this species may be compared 
T. humile (Plate 73), another small and delicate creeper. This plant, like 
Т. elongatum, does not seem to occur i 
