PTERIS. 



257 



Principal Species and Varieties. 



P. (Litobrochia) aculeata— Li-tob-roch'-i-a ; ac-u-le-a'-ta (prickly), Swartz. 



A stove species, of large dimensions, found in the West Indies and 

 Mexico, and extending southward to Brazil and Peru. Its ample fronds, 

 borne on stalks 2ft. or more in length and rough with raised points, are 

 composed of a terminal leaflet 6in. .to 12in. long, cut clown nearly to the 

 rachis into lobes 1-Jin. to Sin. long and ^in. broad, and of numerous lateral 

 leaflets, the upper ones simple, the lower ones compound, sometimes l|ft. long 

 and 9in. broad, with numerous deeply-cleft leafits on both sides. They are 

 naked on both surfaces, of a soft, papery texture, and their spore masses do 

 not reach the points. — Hooker, Species Filicum, ii., p. 224. 



P. adiantoides (or adiantifolia) — ad-i-ant-o-i'-des (or ad-I-ant-if-oF-i-a) 

 (having leaves like an Adiantum). 

 This very pretty and distinct-looking Fern, known in gardens under 

 both names, for which we can find no authority, is Pellcea adiantoides. 



P. albo-lineata — al-bo-li-ne-a'-ta (white-lined). A variegated form of 

 P. cretica. 



P. (Campteria) anamallayensis — Camp-te'-ri-a ; an-am-al-lay-en'-sis 

 (from the Anamallay Mountains), Beddome. 

 This species, which is said to ascend in the Himalayas to 4000ft. elevation, 

 cannot be clearly distinguished from P. biaurita. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, 

 p. 164. Beddome, Ferns of Southern India, t. 45. 



P. (Psesia) aquilina— Ptes'-i-a ; aq-uil-i'-na (eagle-like), Linncens. 



This, one of the commonest of all British Ferns, possesses a remarkably 

 wide range of habitat, being found throughout Europe as far as Lapland ; 

 in the Caucasus, the Ural and Altai Mountains, Siberia, China, and 

 Kamtschatka ; throughout India, Ceylon, Penang, Java, &c. ; also at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, at Sierra Leone, in Senegambia, Bourbon, Mauritius, 

 Algiers, Madeira, the Azores, the Cape de Verde Islands, Guatemala, California, 

 Mexico, Canada, Massachusetts, and Kentucky. Hooker states, in the 



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