56 
THE PERN WORLD OF AUSTRALIA. 
ceolate, again pinnate or deeply pinnatifid ; segments from obovate 
to linear-cmieate, a quarter to one inch long, with few obtuse teeth or 
short lobes ; veins few, branching into the lobes. Sori linear, 
bordering the lobes on a branch of the vein parallel to and very 
near the margin ; indusium narrow, proceeding from the nerve and 
opening outwards towards the margin. Lord Howe's Island, N 
S. Wales. 
Section III. — Athyrium. Sori small, often curved mostly at 
the fork of veins proceeding from the midrib. 
A. umbrosum, J. Sm. Caraway fern. Rhizome stout ascend- 
ing, scaly. Fronds two to five feet high, one to two feet broad, 
bi-tripinnate, stipes clothed with large scales, thick dark at the 
base a Kght green higher and through the many divisions of the 
rhachis. Pinnules membranous, lanceolate or oblong one to two 
inches long, deeply pinnatifid or smaller and pinnately toothed ; 
veins obhque, usually forked, proceeding from the midrib into the 
lobes or teeth, free. Sori oblong, usually on the vein, below the 
fork or partly on one fork and then slightly curved. Indusium 
membranous, proceeding from the vein, and opening on the upper 
or inner margin, the sori often at length covering the centre of the 
pinnule. Found in the dense scrubs of Southern Queensland, N. 
S. Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. 
Var. tenera. Is a more membranous form having darker and 
more slender stipites. Sori more distant, and the indusium not so 
much broken at maturity. Sparingly met with near Brisbane ; 
plentiful in the Maroochie scrubs. 
, Section IV. — Diplasium. Sori linear along veins pinnately 
diverging from the central vein to each lobe of the pinnule. In- 
dusium narrow, opening in the same frond, sometimes on one side 
sometimes on the other, or on both sides of the vein. 
A. Prenticei, Bail. Proceed. Linn. So. N. S. Wales, IV, 37. 
Ehizome an erect caudex of about one foot high, two inches thick, 
covered with the black bases of old stipites mixed with black scales! 
Fronds one to two feet long, pinnate, stipes and rhachis more or 
less covered with black hair-like scales very dense at the base. 
Pinnae petiolate, two to four inches long, linear-lanceolate, serrulate, 
or the ends sharply serrate, the base obliquely truncate, terminal 
pmnje five to six inches long, sometimes deeply lobed at the base. 
Veins forked, terminating at the margin, the upper veinlet of each 
fork except those near the apex, soriferous, sori occupying nearly 
the length of veinlets, Indusium broad firm. The habit of this 
fern is quite that of a Diplazium, but I find no diplazioid sori. 
Found m the creeks of the Ranges Trinity Bay, Queensland. 
A. japonicum, Thunb. Rhizome slender creeping. Fronds 
pinnate one to one and a half feet long, larger pinn^^ three to four 
inches long, deeply pinnatifid, the lower segments reaching the 
shortly scaly hirsute rhachis. Sori rather short. Illawarra, N. S. 
Wales. Some doubt exists regarding the Austrahan habitat of this 
Asiatic species. 
