POLYPODIACEJ]. 



3. DORTOPTERIS PEDATA. 



103 



Litobrochia pedata, Presl, Tent. Pterid. p. 149, t. 5, f. 25. 



Pteris pedata, Langsd. & Fisch. Ic. Fil. p. 17; Willd. Spec. PI. 5, p. 358 (pro 



parte); Raddi, Plant. Brasil. p. 47, t. 65, f. 3, t. 66 & 66 bis; Hook. & Arn. Bot. 



Beech. Yoj. p. 107. 



Hab. On the Corcovado, Rio Janeiro, Brazil. Sandwich Islands. 



This is very variable in the division of its fronds and the form of 

 the segments. The sinus is either rounded or acute at base. 



Among Pteridologists there appears to exist some difference of 

 opinion as to what really is the true Pteris pedata of Linnseus. Mr. 

 John Smith, in his "Arrangement and Definition of the Genera of 

 Ferns," and likewise in the "Enumeratio Filicum Philippinarum,'' 

 refers it to the genus Cassebeera, which has forked veins, with direct 

 free venules. Presl, on the other hand, in his Tentamen Pterido- 

 graphiae, places it in his genus Litobrochia, where the veins are reticu- 

 lated. Langsdorff and Fischer describe the P. pedata as furnished 

 with a reticulated venation; their figure we have not seen. We 

 agree with the latter authorities, and with Presl, in considering the 

 plant with reticulated veins as the true P. pedata of Linnseus. Some 

 states of P. geraniifolia of Raddi (which has a forked free venation) 

 might readily be mistaken for it, when not carefully examined. 



4. Doeyopteris decora, Sp. Nov. (Tab. 13.) 



D. cwspitosa; stipitibus Icevibus semiteretibus basi paleaceo-hirsutis ; 

 frondibus glabris late ovatis cordatis basi pinnatis apicem versus pin- 

 natifidis; pinnis pinnatipartitis, laciniis linearibus obtusis, sinu angu- 

 lato; soris fere continuis. 



Hab. Sandwich Islands ; in exposed situations, in crevices of rocks, 

 and among decomposed lava. 



Plant from 3 to 10 inches high, ccespitose. Eootstock short and 



