CoLENSO. — On some new and tmdescribed New Zealand Ferm. 877 



sent to me, from various sources, bearing the name of " H. minimum ;" the 

 correctness of which name I have ever doubted, but as I had never seen an 

 authentic specimen or botanical drawing of that fern I did not greatly care 

 to controvert, although I never could make my specimens to agree with the 

 several published descriptions in my possession of H. minimum. Desirous 

 however of deciding the poiat, I have recently obtained from Paris a copy 

 of the Botany of the voyage of the "Astrolabe" (Admiral D'Urville) by 

 Lesson and Eichard, with its folio atlas of plates, in which that New Zea- 

 land fern is fully described by its discoverer, together with several drawings 

 of the whole plant with dissections ; and I very soon found that my con- 

 jecture was true, and that this little fern which I have here described has 

 scarcely any af&nity with A. Eichard's plant H. minimum, which is altogether 

 distinct, belonging to a widely different natural section of the genus Hymen- 

 ophyllum. 



Indeed, I can scarcely understand how this fern came to me so com- 

 monly, and for so long a time, too, considered as A. Eichard's plant, except 

 perhaps from its possessing a single terminal involucre, its small size, and 

 its specific name ( ! ) which, combined, seem to have led collectors astray. 

 (I believe that this plant has been also published, name only, in some pre- 

 ceding volume of the " Transactions," as the real H. minimum, !) That 

 plant I have never yet seen, and I almost venture to doubt of its having 

 been again found in New Zealand since D'Urville's visit in the "Astrolabe," 

 who discovered it.* Dr. Hooker, however, did find it at the Auckland 

 Islands, and has given a full and particular account of it in the " Botany 

 of the Antarctic Voyage," Vol.1., p. 103. 



It has been the fate of the true H. minimum to be very unfortunate 

 (like not a few others of om* New Zealand ferns) ! More than fifty years 

 have passed since its discovery in New Zealand, it was soon however pub- 

 lished at Paris to the scientific world, and well, too — both in descriptions 



* I am aware that Dr. Hooter, in his " Handhook of the New Zealand Flora," 

 under H. minimum, says, — " Middle Island, Otago, Hector and Buchanan ;" but I am not 

 certain whether that information was obtained from specimens or from a letter. Be this 

 as it may, Dr. Hooker also says {I.e.), — "North Island, on roots and stumps of trees, 

 T>'l}rville, eJc. ;" which is, I think, an evident error, and it is almost certain that the 

 French Botanists must have obtained their specimens in Tasman's Bay (" Havre de 

 V Astrolabe ") on the south side of Cook Straits, where they spent some time and obtained 

 many novelties. Moreover, who the other Botanists or collectors can possibly be (in- 

 cluded in the " etc." of Dr. Hooker), who found the H. minimum (A. Kichard), in the North 

 Island, I cannot imagine. I know that the Cunninghams did not detect it (Allan, C, in 

 the specific description of it in his "Specimens of the Botany of New Zealand," merely 

 copying from A. Eichard) ; and, as I have already mentioned, I never found it, although I 

 always sought it most assiduously. 



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