186 >NTRIBUTI0N8 lia>M THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



in mountains near ESI Guama, Province of Plnar del Rio, Cuba, March 

 in, L900. Two other sheets of no, 242 show the queries in leu matnre states, 

 in which the branching is bipinnate and trlplnnatlfld only. 



i. rupioola is by do means closely related to anj described species, though 

 it is perhaps to be compared with i. pedata and L. paupercula, in the former 

 species ihc prolongatioo of the lowermost pair of pinna- into lateral branches 

 renders the short frond ternate as to its main vascular pans, and the unusual 

 oplc development of the basal pinnules of the lateral branches again 

 the frond a broad pentagonal form, in A. rupioola, on the other hand, 

 tin- frond is elongate and the comparatively slight extension of the Inferior 

 pinnules of the three or four lowermost pairs of pinna' Indicates no near 

 relationship to 1. pedata, in method of branching t. rupioola is near 1. 

 poupercula, but the pinnules differ essentially in shape, being of the type of .1. 



radiatQ and .1. pi ilnln. 



A NEW GENUS ALLIED TO VITTARIA. 



The Jamaican plant described by Swartz a- Pteris angustifolia, 

 placed under Vittaria by Baker and taken up under this name by 

 Diels, has been recognized by several writers a- typifying a distinct 

 genus t<> which the name Pteropsis ha- been applied. There can be 



no doubt that the species IS a vt'iT foreign element under Vittaria: 



but, equally, it ought not i<> rest under the name Pteropsis. This Last 

 was given by Desvaux in L827 t<> an odd assemblage of ten species 

 belonging to no fewer than six genera. The first three species are 

 now placed under Drymoglossum Presl (1836), the fourth i- the 

 plant under consideration, the fifth is Paltonium lanceolatum, the 

 sixth i- Vittaria 8Colopendrina : the seventh and eighth (described as 

 new) are regarded by Christensen as problematical, the ninth and 

 tenth are Eschatogramme furcata. Paltonium Presl date- from 

 L849; Vittaria J. E. Smith from IT'. 1 -".: Eschatogramme Trev. from 

 1851. 



The original diagnosis of Pteropsis reads as follows: "Sporangia 

 in sorum continuum Immersum marginalem disposita. [nvolucrum 

 nullum. Frondes simplices." In fixing upon tin' type for the genus 

 it is not Qecessary to have recourse to a "first species rule" in any 

 narrow sense; for. notwithstanding the diversity of types included, 

 the preference of the author seems to he fairly indicated. The first 

 three species are of the same type, being indeed referred by Christen- 

 sen to a single species (Drymoglossum heterophyllum) , and by their 

 very position point out the importance they had assumed to the 

 author. Pteropsis thus restricted i-. unfortunately, quite synony- 

 mous with Drymoglossum of later date and must prevail for the sev- 

 eral species now associated under the latter name, unless Mirbel's 

 genus Candollea ( L802) i- t<> he fixed arbitrarily on the same type. 



See Underwood, A review of the genera of ferns proposed prior to 1832, .Mem. 

 Ton-. Hot. Club 6: 247 283, December 1. L899. 





