90 FILICES. 



Cheilanthes dissecta, Hook. & Arn. Bot. of Beech. Voy. p. 75. 



Hab. Tahiti, Society Islands : in mountain forests. 



Eootstock creeping. Stipes thick and angular, smooth, with a short 

 brown pubescence in front. Fronds large, 3 to 4 times pinnately 

 divided. Pinnules pinnate at the base, pinnatifid towards the point ; 

 the inferior segments lobate-pinnatifid, pubescent underneath. Primary 

 and secondary rhachis rufous-pubescent. Sori solitary, small, from 2 to 

 4 on a segment, with a pale, semilunate, scarious indusium. 



That there is a difference between this and the H. tenuifolia is very 

 obvious at first sight, although not so easily pointed out in words. 

 In the present species, the whole of the divisions of its fronds are 

 more distant; the hairs on the rhachis of a downy character; the 

 sori fewer, more distant, and smaller; and the pale indusia more 

 lunate than in H. tenuifolia. 



3. Hypolepis rugulosa, Hook. 



Hypolepis rugulosa, Hook. Spec, Fil 2, p. 68. 



Hab. Tahiti, Society Islands. 



The fronds of this species are large and tripinnate, with a dark 

 brown, glossy, slightly scabrous, flexuose rhachis ; the divisions alter- 

 nate and divaricate; the ultimate ones from 2 to 4 lines long and 

 11 lines broad, with incised, obtuse, recurved lobes, which are smooth 

 on both sides. Sori few, 2 to 4 on a segment, with a half round, 

 membranaceous indusium. 



We possess only a portion of a frond of this species, and that in a 

 very young state. It is very distinct, and readily distinguished from 

 either of the two preceding species, by its flexuose rhachis, and the 

 almost total absence of hair or down. 



