362 Transactions. — Botany. 



TricJiomanes venustuluvi. This new species of Mr. Colenso's is, I believe, 

 not uncommon in the south, but has hitherto been confounded with T. 

 venosum. 



Osmunda. I have here departed somewhat from Smith's arrangement, 

 and united Todea with Osmunda of Linnaeus. This genus has given me 

 more trouble than any other, and consequently I do not expect New Zea- 

 land pteridologists to agree with my views at once, but I have little doubt 

 that many of them will do so when they have studied the question as much 

 as I have done. There is really no natural character to separate the typical 

 species of Todea fi'om Osmunda. The character usually given is that the 

 fronds of Osmunda are contracted in fruit, but the fronds of Todea are often 

 partially contracted, though never so much as those of Osmunda regalis. 

 Consequently this character is of no value, as Ave cannot distinguish genera 

 by the amount of contraction of their fertile fronds. In the variation, tex- 

 ture, and in the sori and venation, we find no difference beyond what is suffi- 

 cient to distinguish them as species of one genus. In the case of the two 

 species of the sub-genus Leptupferis, however, we find characters of more 

 importance, such as the membranous texture of the fronds and the scattered 

 sori ; but these characters are not now considered by authors to be of suffi- 

 cient importance for defining genera, or even for separating Leptopteris from 

 typical Todea, and therefore I feel justified in placing all three plants in 

 Osmunda. I find that Sir J. D. Hooker has, in the " Handbook," given an 

 opinion that Todea should merge into Osmunda, thus anticipating my action. 



In conclusion, it is necessary to remark that I have made a very free use 

 of Smith's generic descriptions ;* but I do not suppose that the author 

 would object, as his descriptions are so admirably drawn that it would be 

 quite impossible for me to improve upon them, and I shall conclude with 

 a hope that this paper will be the means of bringing before the New Zea- 

 land student the least difficult and most natural system of fern classifica- 

 tion ever presented to the public. 



AEEANGEMENT OF GENEBA AND SPECIES. 

 FiLICES. 



Division I. — Eremobrya. 



Tribe I. — Polypodea. 

 Gen. I. — Niphobolus, Kaulfuss. 

 1. N. seiyens (Fst.), J. Sm. Polypodium nipestre, nk. 

 Gren. II. — Phymatodes, Presl. 



1. P. ])ustulata (Fst.), Presl.; slender. 



2. P. billardieri, Br. ; stout, glaucous. 



* All descriptions omitted, the subject of the paper being " arrangement." — Ed. 



