44 J. H. MAIDEN, 
I have taken no cognizance of Cryptogams, but Mr. 
Richard Helms, a member of our Society, has obligingly 
exhibited some species of Hymenophyllum, and has furnished 
the following notes on them :—*‘ There are three species 
of New Zealand ferns known to me which stain the dry- 
ing paper. These are Hymenophyllum polyanthos, H. 
villosum and H. bivalve. 
‘There is no difficulty with ordinary care to dry the 
filmy fernsin their natural colours, and each of these men- 
tioned are no exception. H. polyanthos sometimes develops 
fronds to 7 inches (without the stalk) which are of a dense 
dark green, and show the venation indistinctly, making 
when first dried exceptionally handsome specimens. Soon 
after getting perfectly dry this fern develops a peculiar, 
rather strong odour, of which I do not know anything 
similar. It is however not unpleasant, although neither 
exactly pleasant. The strength of this odour increases 
for a considerable time and then it gradually diminishes, 
yet lasting for many years. My specimens collected 
upwards of twenty years ago still retain it slightly. Ti 
ever so carefully kept in a perfectly dry state and 
excluded from moisture variations in the atmosphere, this 
fern will become discoloured in often less than a month 
after first being dried, getting soon quite brown. At this 
time it begins to stain the paper. The stain like the frond 
brown is undoubtedly of an oily nature, and soon will 
penetrate a sheet of tissue paper leaving on both sides of 
it a perfect impression, which may gradually penetrate a 
number of layers of even thicker paper. 
“H. villosum is a mountain species occurring from 2,500 
to 5,000 feet. It isin my opinion purely a very charac- 
teristic variety of H. polyanthos. It is not of the dark 
even green colours as this fern, but when first dried rather 
faintly streaky and showing the venation distinctly. Its 
