146 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



D. (Humata) parallela— Hum-a'-ta ; par-al-le'-k (parallel), Wallicli. 



A stove species, of small dimensions, native of the Malayan Peninsula and 



the Polynesian Islands. Its fronds, 4in. to Sin. long and l^in. to 2in. broad, 



are produced from a creeping, scaly 



rhizome (prostrate stem), and borne on 



erect stalks 2in. to 4in. long and more 



or less scaly ; they are of a leathery 



texture, in habit and size resembling those 



of our common Polypodium vulgare., and 



are cut down nearly or quite to the 



rachis (stalk of the leafy portion) into 



long, parallel, entire, bluntish lobes, the 



lowest pair sometimes auricled (eared) at 



the base. The sori (spore masses) are 



oblique and disposed in two rows in the 



lobes, where they occupy the greater part 



of the space between the midvein and 



the margin. D. Gaimardiana is another 

 Fi^. 33. Da.va.llia. parallela „ , . 



(inatsize). uamc tor this species. lig. 33 is reduced 



from Col. Beddome's " Ferns of British 



India," by the kind permission of the author. — Hooker, Species Filicum, i., 



p. 153, t. 42a. Beddome, Ferns of British India, t. 99. 



D. (Odontoloma) Parkeri — Od-on-tol-o'-ma ; Par'-ker-i (Parker's), Hooher. 



This is a stove species, native of British Guiana, which, from a slender, 

 creeping rhizome (prostrate stem), produces simple or branched fronds of a soft, 

 papery texture, and borne on flexuose, wiry, naked stalks 2in. to 6in. long. 

 These fronds have one or two pairs of lateral leaflets ; their pinnules (leafits), 

 in the shape of a quarter of a circle, are about Jin. broad, |in. deep, and 

 have their outer edge slightly notched. The sori (spore masses) are small, 

 nearly marginal, and covered by involucres that are rather broader than 

 deep. — Hooher, Sj^ecies Filicum, i., p^ 176, t. 53. 



D. (Leucostegia) parvula — Leu-cos-teg'-i-a ; par'-vul-a (Httle), Wallich. 



This exceedingly pretty, dwarf-growing, stove Fern — by Mettenius placed 

 in Humata, with which it quite agrees in habit — is a native of the islands of 



