DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. 67 



half an inch to six or eight inches long, and varying much in form, from rhomboid to 

 oblong or long lanceolate, tri-pinnate. Pinnae longer or shorter according to the 

 shape of the frond, the longest fronds hanging down on tree-trunks or fern-tree stems, 

 and the short broad ones growing erect on roots or logs. Secondary pinnae divided 

 into a great number of long narrow lobes ; whence the name, which means " much 

 cleft." Texture membranous, but generally seeming harsher than that of most Hymeno- 

 phylla, on account of the narrowness of the lobes ; colour, generally dark green; edges 

 much toothed. The Southern forms are more membranous than the North Island ones. 

 Sori large, stalked, and axillary. Involucres with entire edges, and very obviously two- 

 lipped. The only varieties seem those arising from difference of size and form, which 

 are, no doubt, due to situation, the finest plants occurring in sheltered, and the dwarf 

 ones in very exposed places. It will grow in a case or under a bell-glass, but not so 

 well as most other Hymenophylla. It occurs throughout the Colony, from the North 

 Cape to Stewart's Island, where it was found by Mr. Kirk up to fully 2000ft. elevation. 



HYMENOPHYLLUM BIVALVE. (Hi-men-o-fil-lum bi-val-ve.) 



PLATE XVII., No. 3. 

 This fern is generally similar to the last, but grows longer, being sometimes I5in. 

 high. It is also more triangular in the form of its frond, and has a longer stipes in 

 proportion. The rhizome is stouter, and in the North Island it seems always to grow 

 erect, among moss, on the ground, or on fallen logs, and not pendulous on tree- 

 trunks, but it grows on tree-trunks near Dunedin and Lyttelton. The sori, though 

 generally small, are very numerous, and situated at the ends of the lobes, in which the 

 'oval entire-lipped involucres are sunk. The number of the sori, and their position, 

 gives the frond a drooping habit, like that of a weeping willow, which is very attractive. 

 This fern is seldom found below 1500ft. elevation, but occurs from the Thames to 

 Stewart's Island, and at the Chatham Islands. A narrow form was observed by Mr. Kirk 

 on Stewart's Island, which seems the only variation. It grows freely under glass. 



The last of our Hymenophylla is totally different from the rest and is not filmy at 

 all. It is called 



HYMENOPHYLLUM MALINGII. (Hi-men-o-f^l-lum Ma-ling-e-i.) 



PLATE VII. Ko. 2. 



It was so called after one of the New Zealand Company's surveyors, who first 

 found it, and who was killed in the Wairau massacre ; and it was classed by Dr. 

 Hooker as a Trichomanes, its non-diaphanous texture seeming to preclude its inclusion 

 among the filmy ferns, though it corresponds with them in its sori. This fern has a 

 rough, reddish, slightly scaly rhizome which creeps among the loose bark on the 

 decaying limbs or trunks of trees, usually on Toatoa, at high levels, and will even 



