DESCRIPTIONS OF N.Z. FERNS. 



are closer together and very ascending ; on the other hand, my Lyttelton plants are 

 producing elongated fronds with slightly ascending pinnae under cultivation. Cheilan- 

 thes Sieberi is easily cultivated in the same manner as C. tenuifolia ; but though 

 generally larger, it is not so handsome a plant. 



CHEILANTHES (NEW SPECIES). (Ki-lan-thees.) 

 This little fern has lately been found by Mr. A. C. Purdie at what is called " The 

 Peninsula," near Dunedin, and has not yet been named. In its general appearance it 

 corresponds with Cheilanthes Sieberi, but its ultimate divisions are round or only 

 slightly oval instead of oblong and overlap each other considerably. The sori are 

 round and quite separate, and the marginal involucre is less bent over. The stipes is 

 furnished with scattered broad silky white scales ; but the great peculiarity which 

 distinguishes it, and seems to place it in a different class of Cheilanthes, is that the 

 rachis and costae are thickly furnished with similar scales which lie flat against 

 the under-surface of the frond, and cover nearly half of it. It seems to correspond 

 pretty well with the description of " Cheilanthes hirta," a South African fern also 

 found in Bourbon, Java and China, as given in the Synopsis filicum, and may be a 

 form of that plant, or of the South Indian " C. bullosa," or even a conneft ing link with 

 Nothochlaena, as there is a doubt whether the two genera are really distinft. 



GENUS PELLCEA. (Pel-loe-a.) 

 So called from the Greek word Pellos which expresses the dark olive green of the 

 fronds of this class. It has intramarginal sori, on the ends of veins. These are at 

 first dot-like and distinfb, or barely touching each, but as they develop they unite and 

 form a broad line just within the margin of the frond, which curls over continuously to 

 form the involucre, but sometimes very narrowly. Veins free. The New Zealand 

 species belong to the sub-genus Platyloma, which has the texture coriaceous, veins 

 usually indistinct, ultimate segments broad and flat, and the involucres so narrow as 

 soon to be overgrown and concealed by the capsules. 



PELLCEA FALCATA. (Pel-loe-a fal-ca-ta.) 



PLATE XVIII., 'No. 4. 



Has widely creeping, dark brown, scaly, harsh rhizomes. Stipes frequent, ereft, 

 dark-coloured and smooth, sometimes slightly hairy or scaly and generally about half 

 as long as the frond. Rachis similar to the stipes. Frond from a few inches to three 

 feet long, simply pinnate. Pinnae numerous, and placed alternately, stalked, long, 

 narrow, pointed, and generally more or less curved upwards, whence the name, which 

 means sword-shaped. Texture harshly coriaceous and shining. Colour dark olive 

 green Sori broad, extending all along the margins of the pinnae. Involucres so 

 narrow as to be soon hidden by the capsules. It is also called " Platyloma falcata." 



