—9i— 
Collected in March, 1878, at Caloosa, Florida, by C. F. Austin; also, 
in March, 1905, near Everglade, Florida, by A. A. Eaton. New to the United 
States. The species was based on material collected at Mirador and Zacuapa, 
Mexico, by Liebmann, and has lately been reported by Stephani from Boruca, 
Costa Rica (A. Tonduz 15523). The Florida specimens are somewhat smaller 
than those from Mexico and Costa Rica, which the writer has examined, so that 
their determination must be regarded as provisional. At the same time the 
species of the subgenus Thyopsiella, to which F. cucullata belongs, are so variable 
that a marked difference in size is often consistent with a single specific type. 
Among the close relatives of F. cucullata, F. brasiliensis Raddi, and F. in - 
tumescens Lehm. & Lindenb. may be especially mentioned. Both of these 
species have a wide distribution in tropical America and may perhaps be expected 
in subtropical Florida. All three species are of a considerable size, all are more 
or less copiously branched, and all show a marked reddish pigmentation in most 
of their forms. The leaves are imbricated and strongly convex, tending to be 
acute or apiculate at the indexed apex, and the bifid underleaves are more or 
less revolute along the margins. The leaf-cells are of small size and have dis- 
tinct trigones; although the latter are triangular in form the sides of the triangle 
are often wavy and the cell-cavities in this way acquire a sinuous outline. In- 
termediate thickenings are rare in the middle of the lobes, but tend to be more 
numerous toward the margins. Coalescence between the thickenings is most 
strongly pronounced in the lobules and underleaves. 
In the presence of perianths there is no trouble in separating F. brasiliensis 
from the other two species. The perianth is characterized by being terete or 
nearly so at maturity: in both F. cucullata and F. intumescens it is distinctly 
tri-plicate, the ventral keel being sharp and distinct. There is much more dif- 
ficulty in separating F. cucullata from F. intumescens, and it is possible that 
they represent forms of a single variable species. There is a tendency, however, 
for the lobes of the bracts and the divisions of the bracteoles to be more or less 
toothed in F. intumescens, while they are entire or nearly so in F. cucullata. 
In the various specimens of F. cucullata examined by the writer, the stems 
are at first simply pinnate, but with the appearance of the female inflorescences 
branches of a higher order appear and often give the fertile shoots a fastigiate 
appearance. The lobules on the main stem are almost always explanate. and 
this condition is sometimes found throughout an entire shoot-system. The 
ultimate branches, however, which are usually of the third or fourth rank, fre- 
quently show some or all of their lobules in the form of clavate water-sacs, as 
in all typical species of Thyopsiella, and lobules of this type are sometimes found 
on branches of the second rank or even on the main stem itself. Apparently the 
conditions under which a plant is growing has a marked influence upon the type 
of lobule developed. The specimens from Caloosa, which are preserved in the 
Underwood collection, belonging to the New York Botanical Garden, show fe- 
male inflorescences but no perianths. The specimens from near Everglade, 
received from Miss Haynes, but likewise coming from the herbarium of the 
New York Botanical Garden, show perianths in abundance. Both specimens are 
-entirely free from male inflorescences. 
