DA FALL/ A. 



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D. (Leucostegia) hymenophylla — Leu-cos-teg'-i-a ; hym-en-oph-yl'-la 

 (membranous -leaved), Baker. 

 THs very pretty, stove species, also known under the name of Acrophorus 

 hymenophyllus, is a native of Moulmein, where it grows on limestone rocks. 

 It is a very distinct Fern, with fronds of a flaccid nature, 6in. to 9in. long, 

 4in. to Gin. broad, borne on slender stalks oin. to 4in. long, and produced 

 from a thin, creeping rhizome (prostrate stem). They are deltoid (in shape 

 of the Grreek delta, A), with leaflets distant, the lowest pair broadest and 

 most deeply cut on the lower side, and their pinnules (leafits), or at least the 

 lowest of them, reaching down nearly to the rachis (stalk of the leafy portion), 

 toothed more than half-way down, with oblong, blunt, dented lobes. The 

 sparingly-produced sori (spore masses) are disposed in the notches on the 

 margin. — Hooker^ Synopsis Filicum, p. 90. Beddome, Ferns of British 

 India, t. 96. 



D. (Odontoloma) hymenophylloides — Od-on-tol-o'-ma ; hym-en-oph-yl- 

 16-i'-des (Hymenophyllum-like), Baker. 

 A very singular and pretty, stove Fern, native of Java and New Caledonia, 

 with fronds sub-sessile (almost stalkless), simply pinnate (only once divided 

 to the midrib), and much resembling those of D. repens [D. hemiptera of 

 gardens), but with more deeply-cut leaflets ; these organs being of a thin, 

 papery texture, and cut down into narrow, simple or forked segments, on the 

 margin of which the nearly globular spore masses are disposed. — Hooker, 

 Synopsis Filicum, p. 93. 



D. (Leucostegia) immersa — Leu-cos-teg'-i-a ; im-mer'-sa (immersed), 

 Wallich. 



This is a distinct, deciduous, greenhouse species, native of Hindostan and 

 the Malayan Peninsula, and, according to Beddome, ascending on the Himalayas 

 to an altitude of 8000ft. Its elegant fronds, Ift. to Ijft. long, 6in. to 9in. 

 broad, and borne on strong, upright stalks 4in. to Sin. long, are deltoid (in 

 shape of the Greek delta, A) and three times divided to the midrib ; they 

 are of a pale green colour, of a papery textm-e, and their lower leaflets, Sin. 

 to Sin. long, are again divided into segments which are obliquely truncate at 

 the base below, and roundly lobed, with the lobes again notched, above. The 



