CoLENSO. — On some new and undescribed New Zealand Ferns. 881 



and terminal segment; midrib finely channelled above, and very conspicuous 

 on under-surface, slightly puckered, evanescent towards apices of pinnae, 

 very light straw coloured ; hairs [clebris of, remaining in lacuna in axils and 

 bases of pinnae) bright red-brown. ? Pteris lomarioides, Mini. 



Hab, — In a wood close to the coach road near Tapuaeharuru, between 

 Napier and Taupo. 



This fern, of which (I regret to say) I possess only one barren specimen, 

 has given me no little trouble. I obtained it in 1872, from an acquamtance 

 who had travelled overland from Taupo to Napier, and who, on passing 

 thiough a wooded spot on foot, had carelessly gathered it, and afterwards, 

 on remounting the coach, had brought it on to Napier and gave it to me ; 

 he said its habitat was near Tapuaeharuru. It was quite perfect, save the 

 lowermost part of its stipe, fresh, and in very good condition. I have sub- 

 sequently, on several occasions, endeavoured to get more and better speci- 

 mens, by writing to residents in that locality (even enclosing drawings), but 

 have always failed. Until lately, I did hope to visit the locality and to seek 

 it myself, but that hope has been some time abandoned, and therefore I now 

 have made it known in hopes of some one finding it. Not being certain of 

 its genus I have merely provisionally named it Pteris lomariodes, (from those 

 two genera being so commonly and largely represented in New Zealand, 

 and from its possessing the venation of the more simple species of Pteris, 

 with a faint likeness in colour and form of pinn^ to some species of Lo- 

 maria), although it may turn out to be a Gymnogramme. 



One great peculiarity of this fern is, that it does not remind one at first 

 sight of any other of our New Zealand ferns ; although each of its pinna9 

 in smgle outline and appearance slightly resembles those of some states of 

 Lomaria ■procera, yet in habitat, texture, oblique form and venation, they 

 widely differ, not to mention its sub-pedate figure. Li analogy it seems 

 near to some of the simpler species of Pteris (§ Eupteris), particularly Pt. 

 pellucida, stenojjhylla, dactylina, and cretica ; a plate of Pt. cretica in Bed- 

 dome's ferns of South India (PL XXXIX., the smaller right-hand figure) 

 has a tolerably good partial resemblance, still it differs materially. Besides, 

 in all our living plants of Pt. cretica (which species is pretty largely culti- 

 vated here), there are no such fronds as this one represented by Beddome. 

 Nevertheless Pt. cretica is a Polynesian fern, as it is said to have been found 

 in Fiji and the Sandwich Islands. In its simple clavate venation this fern cer- 

 tainly has affinity with Nephrolepis (a simple species of that genus having 

 been also found at the hot lakes in the interior, not very distant from the 

 habitat of this fern), but it wants the cretaceous spots of that genus. In its 

 venation, hair, texture, and general form, it also has affinity with some species 

 of Gymnogramme (§ 1. Eugymnogramme), particularly with G.javanica, which 



