species; Schizea itself, nine species; and Lophidium, to which 
he refers, five species, viz. S. spectabilis, Mart., S. pacificans, 
Mart., 8. Flabellum, Mart. (Lophidium latifolium, ? Rich.), our 
present S. elegans, Sw. (Acrostichum, Vahl), to which Dr. J. G. 
Sturm has added, in the Fl. Brasiliensis of Von Martius, S. 
attenuata, Beyr. MS., and S. Fluminensis, Miers. That our S. 
elegans is the true plant of Vahl, there can, I think, be no ques- 
tion. Vahl’s figure is very accurate, and our garden specimen 
here figured is derived from Trinidad. It will be worth con- 
sidering how far the other species of Lophidium deserve to be 
distinguished from this. S. spectabilis, Mart., figured in Mart. 
Fl. Brasil. t. 15 (not “14”’) is only known from one sterile 
frond ; that frond is flabellato-reniform and quite simple, that is, 
not broken into dichotomous segments. &. pacificans, Mart. Ic. 
Pl. Crypt. Bras. p. 116. t. 56. f. 1, is fertile, and otherwise ex- 
actly corresponds with S. spectadilis, but it is bipartite, and one 
of the two lobes is again divided, while the other exhibits a 
disposition to become so, and the frond would thus be twice 
dichotomous. &. Flabellum is cuneato-flabellate and bipartite, 
really in no essential particular differing from the two preceding, 
and is not an uncommon form in Guiana. S&S. attenuata, J. G. 
Sturm, is unfortunately not figured, but the description and the 
remark, “Unicum tantum hujus speciei vidi specimen, quod 
tamen a S. elegante diversum existimo,” lead me to the conclu- 
sion that it has no good characters to distinguish it. And lastly, 
we come to the S. Fluminensis of Miers, in Sturm, l.c. t. 15 
(not 14”): “Species inter omnes Schizeas floree nostre gra- 
cillima et cum alia non confundenda.” The figure exhibits a 
starveling plant of what may be a very undeveloped condition of 
S. elegans, and of which I ought to possess good specimens from 
Mr. Spruce, who is the only authority mextioned for its discovery. 
Thus much for the genus or group of Lophidium. I have 
quoted the Pacific Islands as affording the plant now under con- 
sideration. Some of my Aneiteum specimens are decidedly this 
plant, gathered by M‘Gillivray and Milne and C. Moore, and 
each set exhibits samples in all gradations, gradually merging into 
S. dichotoma. I possess, indeed, true dichotoma, which is rare in 
the New World, from Caracas (Birschel) and from C. Wright, 
gathered in Cuba (n. 926), but neither from the New World 
have I seen this to pass into 8. elegans, nor from India and Aus- 
tralia, as among my Pacific Island specimens. The size of the 
spikes of capsules varies exceedingly on different specimens. 
Puate 34. Fertile plant of Schizwa elegans, Sw.,—natural size. Fig. 1. Com- 
pound spike of fructification, seen from the back. 2. Single spikelet, seen from 
the front. 8. Capsule. 4. One of the hairs from the rachis :—all move or less 
magnified. . 
