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ON A COLLECTION OF FEENS MADE BY LANGLEY 



KITCHING, ESQ., IN MADAGASCAR. 



By J. G. Baker, F.B.S. 



This is the third considerable collection of Ferns from Central 

 Madagascar which has reached this country within the last few 

 years. An account of that of Mr. W. Pool will be found in 

 vol. 15 of the 'Journal of the Linnean Society,' p. 411, and 

 of that of Miss Helen Gilpin in vol. 10, page 197. The present 

 collection covers a considerably wider area, and adds about twenty- 

 five species to the two former ones, of which about half prove to 

 be new. Of the stations in which the plants were gathered the 

 route between Tamatave and the capital is now well-trodden 

 ground. Andrangaloaka is about a day's journey from the capital 

 in the heart of the Great Forest, and was one of the chief hunting- 

 grounds of Mr. Kitching's predecessors. The mountains of 

 Ankaratra lie about thirty miles south-west of the capital ; they 

 attain an elevation of 9000 or 10,000 feet, and are supposed to be 

 the highest mountains in the island. 



The Betsileo country is one of the central provinces of Mada- 

 gascar, lying between latitude 21° and 22°. Fianarantsoa, its 

 chief town, is about 200 miles south of Antananarivo, the capital 

 of the island, the palanquin journey between the two places 

 occupying a week. It is 4000 feet above the sea. The Tanala 

 country, lying between latitude 21° and 23°, is a two days' journey 

 to the east, and is a dense forest and mountainous country ranging 

 from 4000 to 5000 feet above the sea ; a continuation of the 

 " Great Forest," which, at a distance of about forty miles from the 

 coast, encircles the whole island. The portion of the Ibara 

 country reached was one hundred odd miles farther south, — a low- 

 lying though broken country mostly surrounded by high mountains, 

 and situated between latitude 22° and 23°, — is ground previously 

 unexplored botanically, and in some instances had only been 

 trodden by two or three other white men. Mr. Kitching has also 

 brought home an interesting collection of flowering plants, which 

 includes three new genera and a considerable number of new species. 



Gleieheilia diehotoma, Hook. Between Tamatave and Anta- 

 nanarivo. 



Cyathea append icidata, Baker. Forest of Andrangaloaka. 

 C. discolor, Baker. Forest of Andrangaloaka. 



AhopkUavestita, Baker. Forest of Andrangaloaka. 

 Hymenophylluni ciliatum, Sw. Tanala. 



IL polyanthos, Sw. Tanala. 



Trichomanes muscoides. Sw. Tanala. 



T. flabellatiun, Bory. Tanala, and between Tamatave and 



Antananarivo. 



T. pyaidifent)}}, L. Tanala. 



T. radicam, Sw. Tanala. 



T. radicans, var. T. gigantmm, Bory. Between Tamatave aad 

 Antananarivo. 



