222 FILICES. 



Hab. Samoan and Feejee Islands. Tongatabu, Friendly Islands. 

 Luzon, Philippine Islands. 



There is a great similarity in the general habit of the species com- 

 prised under this genus. In the present plant the fronds vary from 

 3 to 5 feet in height, with a round and rufous paleaceous-hirsute 

 stipe and rhachis, having a shallow furrow in front. Pinnae at the 

 base of the frond rather distant, sessile, and sterile ; the intermediate 

 and superior ones more approximate and fertile, from 2 to 4 inches in 

 length, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, dentate-serrate, the teeth irregular 

 in size; the superior base truncate-auriculate (the auricle somewhat 

 oblong and obtuse), the inferior base rounded, and with yellowish- 

 brown paleaceous hairs on both sides. Sori large, solitary, and sub- 

 marginal, with small pits of a blackish colour on the upper surface 

 opposite them. Indusium round-reniform and persistent. 



6. Nephrolepis splendens, Presl? 



Nephrolepis splendens, Presl, Tent. Pterid. p. 79. ? 

 Aspidium splendens, Willd. Spec. PI. 5, p. 220. 

 Nephrod'mm splendens, Gaud. Bot. Freyc. Voy. p. 337. 



Hab. Feejee and Samoan Islands. Tahiti, Society Islands. Mangsi 

 Islands. 



This is a noble and very distinct species, with pinnate fronds, 

 varying in height from 4 to 8 feet : stipe paleaceous at the base, naked 

 and smooth towards the summit, and, together with the rhachis, 

 having a shallow furrow in front. Pinnae linear-lanceolate, acumi- 

 nate, usually straight, but sometimes a little falcate, the margin 

 bluntly and irregularly serrate, the base obtusely cuneate, from 4 to 

 9 inches long, half an inch to an inch broad, smooth on both sides, 

 membranaceous or subcoriaceous, according to the exposure of the 

 plant to the light when growing, with a line of dark concave spots on 

 the upper surface opposite the sori, having a white dot in the centre 

 of each, and a row of still smaller white dots at the termination of 

 the venules within the margin : the superior base of the pinnae in the 

 Tahiti and Samoan plants is truncate and somewhat auriculate. Sori 





