5 
ASPIDIUM Wal MCHII. 
Catenulated Shield-Fern. 
CRYPTOGAMIA FILICES— Nat. Ord. FILICES. 
Gen. Char. — Sori subrotundi sparsi. Indusium umbilicatum vel uno latere 
dehiscens.-— WUld. 
Aspidium Wallkhii ; frondibus simplicibus Imeaii-lanceolatis, soris ra- 
chis utrinqiie per totam fere longitudinem lineatim dispositis, stipite 
inarticulato. 
Caudex woody, creeping, covered with numerous brown chaffy scales, and 
throwing out a few tough, simple, fibrous roots. Stipes about 2 inches 
long, smooth, shining, only bearing a few chaffy scales at the base, joint- 
less. F rond from 12 to 14 inches in length, linear lanceolate, of a delicate 
submembranaceous substance, pale green, tapering at the base, and at 
the extremity; slightly pubescent, obscurely fringed at the margin, fur- 
nished through the centre with a strong midrib or rachis, of a greenish 
hue, flat| above, of a shining purplish black colour and prominent be- 
neath, from which there branch off on each side numerous, closely placed, 
parallel, ahnost horizontal, delicate nerves, reaching to the margin, and 
often forked at the base. 
Sori, or clusters of fructification, collected together so closely as to be almost 
catenulated in two lines, one on each side the rachis, and lying close to 
it, of a brown colour. Involucre a roundish, kidney-shaped, reticulated 
scale, opening nearly all round, ciliated at the margin. Capsules nume- 
rous in each cluster, and mixed with a few lanceolate chaffy scales, sphe- 
rical, pedicellate, reticulated. Annulus incomplete. 
One of the principal motives which has urged me to under- 
take the present work, is the opportunity it will give me of 
publishing some of the many novel and beautiful plants with 
which my collection is enriched, by the well known liberality 
of Dr Wallich, Superintendant of the Botanic Garden at 
Calcutta. This gentleman's journey into the kingdom of Ne- 
pal, aided by the exertions of collectors whom he sends to ex- 
plore that country, has opened to us a new and almost inex- 
VOL. I. 
