228 FILICES. 



At the Samoan Islands this species is of very frequent occur- 

 rence; its wiry rootstocks rambling over rocks, and clinging by its 

 rootlets to the trunks of trees. We do not find it recorded in any 

 work, as having been heretofore detected in the islands in the Pacific 

 Ocean. 



* * Frondes pinnatifidciE; segmentis pinnisve iiifimis pinnatifidis seu lobatis. 



2. Humata polypodidoides, Sp. Nov. (Tab. 32.) 



H. rhizomate ramoso gracili repente squamosa; stipite comjrresso; fron- 

 dibus coriaceis triarigulari-oblongis acuminatis pinnatifidis basi cor- 

 datis, segmentis sterilium oblongis obtusis apice dentaiis, infimis mar- 

 gine inferiori lobatis; segmentis fertilium crenato-dentatis ; indusio 

 majusculo subcoriaceo orbicular i ultra sinum dentiiim productis ; venia 

 furcatis. 



Hab. Direction Island, and Vanua Levu, Feejee Islands. 



Plant scan dent. Rootstock creeping and branched, slender, of a firm 

 texture, about the thickness of a crowquill, producing rootlets from 

 the axils of the branches and buds ; the surface rough and closely 

 imbricated with setose scales, which are attached by a point or disc 

 near their middle, on which they can be turned as on a pivot. 

 Fronds scattered, coriaceous, raised on a compressed stipe (of nearly 

 half an inch in length), about 2 inches long by one inch broad, 

 triangular-oblong, acuminate, slightly cordate at the base, and pinna- 

 tifid; the fertile one generally the smallest; the sterile one resem- 

 bling very much a starved specimen of the common Pblypodium vuU 

 gare. Sterile segments oblong, obtuse, toothed at the apex, the inferior 

 pair lobed; the fertile segments crenate-dentate. Sori copious, and 

 concealing half of the under surface of the frond ; the rather large 

 and orbicular, coriaceous indusium projecting beyond the sinus of the 

 teeth. Veins forked, immersed, much more evident on the under than 

 the upper surface. 



Plate 32.— Fig. 1. Portion of a plant, of the natural size. 1 a. 

 Dorsal view of a portion of the sterile frond, showing the vena- 



