HISTORY OF INTRODUCTION OF EXOTIC FERNS. 35 



fifty species, twenty of which, were Tree-ferns, and 

 many new and interesting species. 



Before leaving tropical America I must say a few 

 words respecting the West Indies, the Fern 

 Flora of which is to a great extent identical with 

 that of the countries on the Atlantic coast of 

 South America. A tolerably accurate idea of the 

 number of species indigenous to the West Indies may 

 be obtained from Grisebach's Flora of the islands 

 belonging to Great Britain, where three hundred and 

 forty are described, and their particular localities 

 noted. Out of these, two hundred and twenty will be 

 found enumerated in the following pages as already in 

 our gardens; and as our intercourse with most of 

 these islands is now so frequent, and the voyage ac- 

 complished with such rapidity, we may expect ere long 

 to receive all the most striking types of the remaining 

 ones. Indeed, the West Indian correspondents of the 

 Royal Gardens at Kew, as well as those of several nur- 

 serymen, and other private individuals, are continually 

 forwarding Ferns to this country ; and under these 

 circumstances I do not think it worth while to men- 

 tion any particular species ; but it is worthy of remark 

 that among our desiderata is the numerous group 

 represented by PolypocUv/m trichomanoides. 



Passing westwards to Ecuador and Peru, I might 

 ^ive a long list of desiderata, particularly of pretty 

 little Alpine species from the Andes, belonging to 

 Oheilanthes, Notholcetia^ Asplenium, and Polypo- 

 iiwm, but want of space compels me to confine my 

 remarks to a few of the most desirable ones. In 

 [lis second century of Ferns, Sir W. J. Hooker has 

 figured a beautiful Polybotrya, named P. Lech- 

 D. 2 



