S62 Transactions. — Botany. 



what vaulted, fixed in the centre of the segment and opening towards the 

 central vein. Siiorangia excessively numerous, ultimately spreading over 

 the whole under-surface of the frond which when mature is a dense mass 

 of rich hrown-coloured sporangia entirely covering the involucres. 



Hah. — Mount Arrowsmith and Mount Torlesse — J. F. Armstrong; near 

 the Waimakiriri Gorge — J. B. Armstrong. First collected in 1864. 



This is a peculiar and interesting little fern hitherto much neglected by 

 fern collectors, and not at present in cultivation. It belongs to the series 

 represented by A. bulbiferum, A. colensoi, A. richardi, and A. hookerianum, 

 and is by far the most distinct species of the group, differing from all the 

 others in the minute pubescence, the great abundance of sporangia, and 

 the central sori. Any authors who are disposed to unite the previously 

 described species of the group, will of course decline to admit this plant to 

 specific validity ; but such a course would be .productive of so much confu- 

 sion that it is to be hoped nothing of the kind will be attempted. In 

 working up the species for my work on the native ferns, I find several new 

 species in my Herbarium which shall be described in due course. 



Aet. LI. — Description of new Plants. By D. Petrie, M.A. 



[Read before the Otago Institute, 21st June, 1881.] 



Cotula maniototo, n. sp. 



A MINUTE densely-tufted moss-like species. Stems creeping, with short 



leafy branches. 



Leaves sessile, linear- oblong, pinnatifid, with few linear segments on 

 each side, silky on both surfaces, ^^ inch long, broader and more mem- 

 braneous at the base. Heads small, bisexual, sessile on the tips of the 

 lateral branches : involucral scales in two series, broad, entire, membrane- 

 ous, outer more or less silky. Female flowers in one outer series, with 

 narrow-oblong 2-lobed corolla, and 2-lobed stigma. Hermaphrodite flowers 

 15-20, with corolla dilated above, and 4- or 5-lobed. Stigma flattened at 

 the top ; achenes oblong, turgid, slightly winged. 



Hah. — Maniototo Plain, Otago, in moist hollows containing water in 

 wet seasons. 



I have never seen this plant except on the Maniototo Plain and its 

 borders. It ranges from Kyeburn Crossing to the Styx, a tributary of the 

 Upper Taieri. It is a very inconspicuous plant, and might readily be over- 

 looked, as was long the case with Veronica canescens, Buch., which occurs in 

 the same locality and in similar situations. The species is an extremely 

 distinct one. 



