7 



4. or deeper, the divisions cuneatc, and cut into final linear lobes J li. w. a single vein running into 

 each ; sori terminal ; involucros scarcely cuneate, open at the top. — Sloane t. 61. 



Abundant among the lower hills on the skirts of woodland, among bushes, in hillside pastures, 

 and bv open pathw ays, but not forming such dense thickets as the preceding, of which it is the low- 

 land analogue, ascending only to about 2,500ft. alt. where that first appears. The two species hardly 

 touch in their range. This is of thinner texture, pale colour, more prickly, the final lobes narrower 

 more numerous, deeper cut, and rather smaller sori and involucres. The deeply incised segments dis- 

 tinguish it at a glance. 



7. D. clavata, Swartz. — Rootstock creeping, thick as cord, densely fibrillose, interlacing ; stipites 

 slender, naked except the base, 3-8in. 1. channelled, straw green, fronds tri-quadripinnate, firm 

 naked, light-green, 4-10in. 1. 2-4in. w. ; pinna? low, alternate, petiolate ; other divisions proportionately 

 reduced, but similar ; final segments flat, linear, broadest at the truncate apex, ^-f li. w., one or two 

 veins to each ; sori terminal ; involucres broadly attached by the base, as wide generally as the leaf- 

 segment, the receptacles formed bv the thickened apex of a single vein or by the transvere union oi 

 two.— Plum. Fil. tab. 101. B. 



Frequent, on wet rocks, by the banks of streams and rivers, in shaded or open situations from sea- 

 level up to 3,000ft. alt. in the eastern parishes. In the West Indian flora this is an exceptional 

 species, closely connected with some of the Asiatic and Australian species of Lindmyce ; the fronds con- 

 sist of the vascular framework and narrow wedge-shaped final segments. 



Genus V., Cystopteris, Bernh. 



Sori punctiform, medial on the back of the veins : involucres attached by the base, hood-like, 

 covering the sori at first ; fronds small, multifid, herbaceous; veins free, branched. 



This genus differs from the two preceding by having the sori midway on the veins instead of near 

 to or at their summits and in the form of involucre. 



1. C. fragilis, Bernh. — Rootstock branched, shortly repent, clothed with small dark scales ; stipitea 

 tufted, 1 — 4 in. 1. slender, channelled, slightly tilrillose at the base ; fronds lanceolate, 5 — 10 in. 1. 1^ — 4 

 in. w. bi-tri-pinnate, herbaceous, naked, light or dark-green ; rachis slender, channelled, glabrous ; pinna? 

 numerous, near or apart, nearly sessile, f — 2 in. 1. \ — 1 in w. acute or accuminate at the serrate point ; 

 pinnuhe 2 — 7 li. 1. 1 — 3 li. w. rather lax, dentate or pinnatifid, acute, usually broadest at the base ; teeth 

 sharp ; veins pinnate or forked in the lobes; sori medial, copious, several to the larger more entire lobes ; 

 involucres broadly attached around the base of the sori thence arising hood-like, terminating in a. 

 point. — Cjamaicensis, Desr. 



Infrequent, but plentiful where present, on wet rocks in the beds of streams from 4,000 — 5,000 ft 

 alt. gathered at Old England plantation, and a few hundred feet higher in streams of the Government 

 Cinchona Plantation. It varies in aspect and in size and cutting, the fronds varying from G in. to a foot 

 high. The involucres shrivel at length, leaving the sori naked. In heavy weather the fronds are 

 washed away, but the rootstocks, which cling tightly to the rocks, spring again when the stream sub- 

 sides. Found also in Britain and in all the principal countries of the world. 



Tribe III. Lindsayew. 



Sori marginal or submarginal linear or oblong ; involucres the same shape, interiorly attached, 

 usually narrower than the thin leaf-margin which forms an outer false valve ; leaflets dimidiate in all 

 the Jamaica species. 



In habit the local members of this tribe resembles a large portion of the rest, especially in the 

 form of the leaflets, which are as it were half nut away. 



Genus VI. Linchaya, Dryand. 

 Characters as given above for the tribe. 

 a. Segments usually over ^in. 1. 



1. L.falcata, Dry. Willd. 



2. L. trapeziformis, Dry. 

 aa. Segments usually under ^in. 1. 



3. L. guiancnsis, Dry. 



4. L. stricta, Dry. 



1. L.falcata Dry. Willd — Rootstock repent, thick as cord, densely coated with minute scales; 

 stipitis near, erect, £-lft. 1. chesnut or straw coloured, angular with sharp pale scariose edges ; fronds 

 erect, simply pinnate, or the base occasionally bipinnate, ^-l^ft. 1. l$-3in, w., chartaceous dark or pale 

 green, naked ; segments numerous, horizontal, close, dimidiate, 1-1^-in. 1. £-fin. w., the base terminate 

 and parallel with the angular sharp scariose edged rachis, the lower edge straight or decurved, the 

 upper and outer rounded or sublunate, terminal segment enlarged, deltoid, not dimidiate ; veins close, 

 forked, subflabellate, combined near the margin by the linear unintermittent receptacle ; sori con- 

 tinuous along, but a little within, the upper and outer inargin ; involucre narrow, continuous, not 

 reaching to tha membranous edge. 



Port Royal Mountains, 4,000ft. alt. growing on the ground and decayed logs and trunks of trees ; 

 gathered by Mr. Sherring in 1886-7. The fronds are usually lanciform, and simply pinnate, but 

 occasionally one is shortly branched on one or both sides at the base. The Jamaica specimens are 

 smaller, darker, thinner with more decidedly intra- marginal sori than the continental. 



2. L. trapeziformis, Dry. — Rootstock repent, fasciculate, clothed with minute sharp scales ; stipites 

 erect, quadrate, with sharp edges, channelled ; fronds light green, bipinnate, with a terminal pinna 



