224 CHARACTERS OF TEIBES A^B GE^'ERA. 



or pinnate ; venules free. Sori punctiform, terminal. 

 Iiidusium reniform or absent. 



Type. Polypod'mm ienellum, Forst. 



niust. Sclik. Fil., 1. 16 ; Hook. Fil. Exot., t. 89 ; J. Sm., 

 Ferns, Brit, and For., fig-. 78. 



Obs. — This genus was first characterised by me in Dr. 

 Hooker's " Flora of New Zealand," the type bemg FoJijpo- 

 flimn ienellum Forster. T there stated that although no 

 indusium had been detected on New Zealand specimens I 

 nevertheless associated with it the Neplirodium oiliteraium 

 of Brown, which has a very small fugacious indusium, and 

 although Aspidiuvi albo-punctatum of Bory, has a well- 

 defined reniform indusium, its other points of character 

 seem to indicate its affinity with A. tenella. The apparent 

 articulation at or near the base of the stipes of A. tenella 

 and A. oUiierata gives them some claim to rank in Fry- 

 mobrya, and in A, alho-punctata the apparent joint is often 

 2 to 3 inches above the base of the stipes. These charac- 

 ters seem to indicate a natural relationship of these species 

 to one another, to which I add Volypodium heteromorplium, 

 a Fern of peculiar habit of growth, having slender dichoto- 

 mous or unequally branching fronds, each branch being 

 pinnate, the pinnas numerous, oblong, entire or variously 

 lobed, not exceeding half an inch in length, their bases 

 articulate with the rachis, and having white dots on the 

 upper sm-face, which, with the sori being terminal and 

 naked, leads me to consider these points suflBcient to 

 warrant its being placed in the present g-euns. It is a 

 native of Mexico, New Grenada, and other parts of tropical 

 America, growing round the base of trunks of trees, on 

 moist rocks, and even in caves, its slender fronds being 

 pendulous, similar to some species of Ctenopleris and Ey- 

 menophyllum, 



