63 



Dr. Hooker (Flor. Nov. Zeel. ii. 5) records G. micropKylla from 

 Chatham-Island. The normal form of that fern occurs not in Mr. 

 Travers's collection ; but the variety hecistophylla from New Zealand 

 seems to obliterate the limits of these two species. If so we possess 

 in Australia but four Gleicheniee, viz. G. Platyzoma (Platyzoma 

 microphyllum, R. Br. Prodr. 160), which is widely dispersed over 

 the arid interior of tropical Australia ; G. microphylla, of which G. 

 rupestris and G. speluncEe are varieties ; G. flabellata and G. Her- 

 manni. 



The reduction of Platyzoma to Gleichenia has been suggested by 

 Prof EndUcher (Gen. Plant. 64) and Sir Will. Hooker. The develop- 

 ment of barren short and narrow fronds accessory to the fertile ones 

 is its principal character. 



BOTRYCHIUM TERNATUM. 



Swartz, Synops. Filic. 172 ; Willd. Spec. Plant, v. 63 ; Kunze, Farnkrseuter, 

 t. 121 ; B. lunaroidea, Swartz, 1. c. ; Tbrrey, Flora of New York, ii. 506 

 Chapman, Flora of South Unit. States, 599 ; B. dissectum, Sprang. An- 

 leitung, iii. 172 ; B. obliquum, Muehlenb. in Willd. Spec. Plant, v. 63 

 B. fumaroides, Willd. I. c. ; . B. matrioarioides, Willd. 1. u. ; B. rutaceum, 

 Svensk Bot. t. 372, fig. 2 ; B. Fumarise, Spreng. Syst. Veg. iv. 23 ; B, 

 MatricarisB, Spreng. 1. c. ; B. Australe, JR. Br. Prodrom. 164 ; B. rutifo 

 Hum, Al. Br. in Doelling. ilhein. Flor. 24 ; B. Virginicum, J. Hook. Flor, 

 Nov. Zeel. ii. 50; Flor. Tasman. ii.l54, t. 169 ; Osmunda Lunaria var, 

 Bseckeana, Linn. Amcen. Acad.; O. ternata, Thunb. Flor. Japou. 329, t. 32 

 O. Lunaria, Oeder in Flor. Dauic. t. 18, fig. 2; O. Matricariee, Schrank, 

 Flor. Bavar. ii. 419 ; O. biternata, Lam. Encycl. iv. 608 ; Botrypus luna- 

 roidea, Michaux, Flor. Amer. Boreal, ii. 274. 



On open shady places of Chatham-Island. 



This fern is very rare in South Australia and in the lowlands 

 of Victoria and New South Wales, and not yet found in tropical 

 and Western Australia, but not unfrequent in some of the high- 

 lands of this continent. Some specimina gathered by Dr. Haast 

 in the Province of Canterbury, New Zealand, show two sterile fronds. 



It remains to be ascertained in what relation B. ternatum is 

 standing to B. Lunaria and B. Virginicum. Professor Oeder, an 

 excellent observer, illustrated (Flora Danica, t. 18) both B. Lunaria 

 and B. ternatum as varieties of one species, connected by B. rutaceum. 

 Smith (Engl. Flora, iv. 315) and Weber & Mohr (Bot. Taschenbuch, 

 48-51) adopt this view, in which the author after observing the 

 variability of these plants in the alpine valley of the Cabongra is 

 inclined to concur. Wallroth (Compend. Flor. Germ. iii. 30) and 



