THE FERN WOELD OF AUSTRALIA. 37 
forming with it a complete cup enclosing the sorns,.or attached only 
by its broad base, and either covering the sorus or short and open 
under it. Name in honor of Edward D avail, a Swiss botanist. 
D. solida, Swartz. Rhizome rather thick, densely clothed with 
setose appressed scales. Fronds one to two feet long, rather broad, 
bi-tripinnate or pinnatifid. Pinnules coriaceous, half to one and half 
inches long, the lower larger ones distinct and deeply pinnatifid, the 
• upper ones confluent and obtusely lobed. Sori at the base of the 
crenatures or lobes. Indusium narrow, oblong, three-quarter, line 
long, the margins adnate, forming with the frond a complete cup or 
tube. The only Australian habitat noticed Hummocky Island, 
Queensland. 
D. elegans, Sw. Rhizome densely clothed with soft light colored 
scales, creeping in the loose sandy soil around coast swamps. Fronds 
decompound, one to three feet high, the pinnge often tapering into 
long points. Pinnules lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid, coriaceous, 
smooth shining and elegantly marked with raised stri£e distinct from 
the veins. Sori on small truncate or bi-dentate lobes or teeth. 
Indusium ovate, about half-line long and broad, the margins adnate 
and forming with the tube a complete cup, which is of a silvery 
whiteness. Found at various places along the Queensland tropical 
coast. 
D. pyxidata, Cav. Hare's foot fern. Rhizome thick, densely 
clothed with soft brown scales. Fronds one to two feet long Cori- 
aceous, deltoides-ovate, on a stipes about half as long, bi-tripinnate. 
Pinnules smooth and shining, the lobes or segments mostly obtuse. 
Sori on the lobes or teeth. Indusium ovate, sometimes broad, but 
more frequently narrow and truncated at the mouth. This beautiful 
fern is usually met with growing in the large masses formed by the 
stag's-horn and bird's-nest ferns or in the cracks of trees or old 
logs throughout Queensland and New South Wales. 
D. pedata, Sm. Rhizome long creeping, scaly, forming dense 
masses on rocks, giving them the appearance of being covered with 
ivy. From the dark green coriaceous fronds which are ovate- 
triangular from two to four inches long, tho stipes short or of equal 
length, deeply pinnatifid, the lowest pair of segments usually again 
pinnatifid and deeply so on the outer side, the others gradually smaller 
and entire or scarcely crenate, obtuse or truncate. Sori at the base 
of the crenatures at the end or upper half of the segments. In- 
dusium nearly orbicular, about half line diameter, closely appressed 
and covering the sorus but attached- only by the broad base, leaving, 
the margins free. Found covering rocks in wet gullies of tropical 
Queensland. 
D. dubia, R- Br. Mountain bracken. Rhizome horizontal stout, 
Fronds large subcoriaceous, tri-pinnate, three to six feet high. 
Pinnules half to one and half inches long, lanceolate, deeply 
piniiatifid and the lowest segments often again toothed or lobed. 
Sori at the base of the obtuse teeth or lobes which are often curved 
over them as in Dicksonia, but quite independent of them. Indu- 
