162 THE BOTANICAL MAGAZINE. tToi. xxix. No. 346. 



frondes sont raides, coriaces, pinnatifides au centre, et settle- 

 ment cleneles a la base, se continuant sur le petioles en dec- 

 roisssant snccessivement , les segments sont cilies de polls raides 

 et etoiles. II est difficile d'apprecier les motifs qui ont fait 

 placer le Prosaptia par M. Presl a. cote du genre Vittaria. 

 Sans doute le docte auteur s'est cru autorise a. agir ainsi, 

 parce qu'il n'existe pas de veritable indusium dans le genre 

 Prosaptia ; mais la situation terminate et interieure des spo- 

 ranges lui donne une place bien plus naturelle dans les daval- 

 liees." 



Later on, Smith 1} reduces the genus to Polypodium, on the 

 ground that it bears so close a relation to the latter genus 

 that it should be regarded as inseparable. Copeland 2 ' retains 

 Prosaptia in the sense that the generic definition is to some 

 extent admissible, i.e. so far as it is convenient for systematiz- 

 es, and he finally concludes that Prosaptia is a good genus 

 quite clearly defined from Polypodium, although he admits 

 that Smith does not violate the natural system in reducing 

 the former genus to the latter. His opinion is, in other words, 

 that the fern so well defined from others should be retained 

 as a distinct genus, however close affinity it may have to 

 Polypodium. 



Let me here state briefly just what constitutes Prosaptia. 

 It is a fern closely resembling Polypodium obliquatum in many 

 respects especially in its vegetative organs, but having a fructi- 

 fication nearly the same as that of Dayallia. Modern pterido- 

 logists, such as Hooker, 31 Baker, 4 ' Christ, 5 ' Christensen, 6) 

 and Diels 7) maintain that while Prosaptia is separable from 

 Polypodium, it is quite assignable to Davallia, and they rank 

 down the former to a subgenus of the latter. 



1) Smith, J. in Hooker's Journ. Bot. IV. (1842; p. 46—1 regret te say that I 

 could not read Smith's paper, as it is not accessible to me. 



2) Copeland, E. B— in Philipp. Journ. Sci. Suppl. I. (1906) p. 157. 



3) Hooker, W. J.— Species Filicum, I. p. 160. 



4) Baker, J. G— Synopsis Filicum p. 94. 



5) Christ, D.— Frankrauter der Erde p. 305. 



6) Christensen, C. — Index Filicum p. 589. 



7) Diels, L.— I.e. p. 212. 



