44 I. — FILICES. [Hymenophylluin 



18. H. subtilissimum, Kimze. 



A rather small pendulous species, evei;ywhere covered with tawny 

 •or brownish-red, silky, stellate hairs ; rhizome filiform. Stipes 1-3 in. 

 long, wiry, filiform, tomentose, not winged. Fronds 3-8 in. long, 

 1-2 in. broad, ovate-lanceolate or linear, 3-pinnatifid, pinnate below ; 

 main rachis slightly winged above ; lower pinnae divided nearly to 

 the rachis into numerous alternate pinnules, which are again 

 ■deeply divided into broad linear segments. Sori rather numerous, 

 terminal on the lateral segments ; involucres orbicular, divided nearly 

 to the base ; lips short, copiously ciliated. 



Synonyms. — H. seruginosum, Hook. ; H. berteroi. Hook. ; H. frank- 

 linianum, Col. H. seruginosum, Oa/rm., is separated as a distinct 

 species by Baker, but is considered to be identical by Sir J. D. 

 Hooker. It is a Tristan d'Acunha species. 



Distribution. — Chili, Chiloe, and Juan Fernandez. 

 In New Zealand this fern ranges from the Bay of Islands to 

 ■ Stewart Island, in which last place it is very common. It 

 is also common in the damp forests of the interior of the North 

 Island, at about 2,000 ft. elevation, and is abundant down the W. 

 •coast of the South Island, though rare along the whole E. Coast. 



19. H. malingii, Mettenius. 



A most curious little fern, covered everywhere with pale-brown, 

 grey or reddish stellate tomentum ; rhizome slender, filiform, creep- 

 ing, with a few scattered hairs or scales. Stipes 1-3 in. long, slender, 

 not winged. Fronds pendent or erect, rather rigid, 2-8 in. long, 1-1 J- 

 in. broad, linear-oblong, 2-3 or 4-pinnatifid ; lower pinnae oblong or 

 rhomboid, divided to the rounded rachis into flabellate, deeply pin- 

 natifid pinnules ; ultimate segments linear, almost terete, obtuse and 

 rather coriaceous. Sori terminal on the segments ; involucres sub- 

 globose, divided about half-way down ; valves toothed, densely 

 pubescent. 



Synonym. — Trichomanes malingii. Hook. 



This remarkable plant is confined to New Zealand, but its nearest 

 -ally is H. sericeum, Sw., a species occurring in tropical America. 

 Its rarity probably adds to the interest which it excites in the minds 

 of fern-collectors. The only localities in which it has been gathered 

 are : — N. Island : Mt. Egmont. S. Island : Mountains between Blind 

 Bay and Massacre Bay ; Pine Hill and Mt. Cargill, near Dunedin ; 

 Banks' Peninsula, near Port Levy, and Pigeon Bay ; and on the 

 Franz-Joseph Glacier, W. Coast. Mr. Buchanan, in his sketch of 

 the Botany of Otago, gives this fern as occurring rarely on both the 

 East and West Coasts ; the locality named above is the only one I am 

 •acquainted with in Otago. It appears to be a species easily 

 cultivated. 



