Hymenophyllurn] I. — filices. 39 



Distribution. — A very common and wide-spread tropical and sub- 

 tropical fern, occurring in America (in Cuba and Jamaica, Brazil, 

 S. Chili and Juan Fernandez) ; in Asia (in India, Ceylon, the 

 Malay Peninsula and Java) ; and in W. tropical Africa, Madagascar' 

 and Mauritius. It has not, however, been recorded from Australia. 



In New Zealand it is an abundant species and is common through- 

 out, from N. Cape to Stewart Island. At the Thames and on 

 Pirongia it is common at 2,700 ft., and in Otago ranges from near 

 sea-level to about 3,000 ft. 



Swartz's name for this fern was given on account of the peculiar 

 and disagreeable odour it emits when drying, and also from its 

 reddish colour-.i*-<C^ S^^^t^^ ^i^^/^^ c, -^-/U^^ c/^t^i^ 



8. H. villosum, Col. 



Rhizome wiry, creeping on rocks and trees. Stipes 1-2 in. long, 

 with or without a narrow wing, villous. Fronds 2-5 in. high, 1-2 in, 

 broad, opaque, dull brownish-green, broadly ovate or ovate-acuminate, 

 villous, 3-pinnate ; main rachis narrowly winged, flexuous ; primary 

 and secondary pinnre deltoid, tertiary twice or thrice divided into 

 narrow linear forked segments. Sori terminal and axillary, free ; 

 involucres as broad or broader than the segments, 2-valved to the 

 base ; valves entire. 



Distribution. — Confined to New Zealand, where it has been 

 recorded from the following localities : — N. Island : Ruatahuna, 

 and summit of Tarawera, both localities lying in the mountainous 

 region between Hawke's Bay and Bay of Plenty. South Island : ^ 

 Mountains of the Amuri, Nelson, 3-4,000 ft. ; Broken Eiver, Upper 

 Waimakariri and Arthur's Pass, 2-3,000 ft., and Ashburton, in the 

 Canterbury district ; Okarita, on the W. Coast, the lowest altitude 

 at which it has been observed ; the Routeburn and mountains above 

 Lake Harris, 4,000 ft. 



Mr. Kirk, from whose paper (in the " N.Z. Inst. Trans.," vol. x. 

 p. 395) I have quoted the above information, considers that this 

 species is probably common throughout the colony at elevations 

 above the highest limit of li. polyanthos, although but rarely 

 occurring below. 



In the " Handbook to the N.Z. Flora,'' this is treated as a 

 variety of H. Polyanthos, but its claim to specific distinctness appears 

 to have been well established. 



9. H. javanicum, Spreng. 



Tufted or matted; rhizome glabrous, wiry and creeping. Stipes 

 2-4 in. long, erect, margined above with a broad crisp wing. Frond 

 4-8 in. long, 3-4 in. broad, triangular, 3-pinnatifid, dull-green ; main 

 and secondary rachises bordered throughout with broad crisped 

 wings; lower pinnse 1^-2 in. long, deeply pinnatifid ; segments 

 narrow-linear, quite entire, more or less crisped. Sori numerous, 

 terminal or axillary on the segments on both sides ; involucre free, 



