POLYPODIACEjE. 265 



being over an inch in height. The principal difference consists in 

 the somewhat more inflated indusium of the present plant, and its 

 entire valves. 



7. Hymenophyllum affine, Sp. Nov. (Tab. 37.) 



H. rhizomate filiformi repente; stipitibm brevibus (enuibus teretibus parce 

 villosis; frond ibus parvw membrcmaceis late ovatis bipinnatifidis ; 

 pinnis imbricato-confertis subflabellatis, laciniis lineari-oblongis obtusis 

 simplicibus vel bifidls spinuloso-serratis ; indusio supra-axiUari obo- 

 vato basl subimmerso infra medium usque bivalvi, labiis integerrimis ; 

 receptaculo brevi incluso. 



Hab. Ovolau, Feejee Islands : on rocks. 



Rootstoch long, filiform, and creeping. Stipes about half an inch in 

 length, very slender, terete, sparingly villous. Fronds bipinnatifid, from 

 half an inch to an inch in length, membranaceous, broad-ovate or 

 ovate in circumscription, with imbricated and somewhat subflabelliform 

 pinna? ; the lacinice linear-oblong, obtuse and simple, or oblong and 

 bifid, the margin spinulose-serrate. Sori few on the upper half of the 

 fronds ; the indusium supra axillary, obovate, plane, and two-valved 

 for fully two-thirds of its length, the margin of the lips entire, the 

 base only slightly immersed in a short segment. Receptacle short 

 included. 



This is related to the H. Tunbridgense ; from which it is distin- 

 guished by the shorter stipe, the broader fronds, the crowded and 

 imbricated pinnae, and particularly by its obovate, deeply divided, 

 entire-lipped indusium. In the latter respect it resembles more the 

 H. Wilsoni, but the indusium is not inflated at the base as in that 

 species ; the form of the fronds and direction of the pinnae are also 

 very different. 



Plate 37. — Fig. 1. Plant, of the natural size. 1 a. Portion of the 

 same, seen from beneath. 1 b. View of a single sorus, with one-half 

 of the indusium removed. 1 c. Sporangium. — The details more or 



less magnified. 



n 



