1^6 
Tiie Queensland Naturalist August, 1941 
of the pine trees was then found to be able to feed on this 
material and supply the tree with its needs in the way of 
carbohydrate and other nutrients. Diagramatically, the 
use of the phosphate is shown in the accompanying figure. 
Different species of pine tree require different phos- 
phate values in the soil, therefore soil surveys and chemical 
analyses are now carried out in Queensland on proposed 
plantation sites for exotic pines, and fertilizer applications 
are made as necessary for the species it is proposed to 
plant, so as to ensure healthy growth. 
The way in which trees can linger on in the rain 
forest as small seedlings under a heavy leafy canopy in the 
absence of direct sunlight is perhaps explained by their 
mycotrophic habit. Indeed, the subject gives rise to a 
wide scope of investigation along this and similar lines. 
A NEW FILMY FERN (. HYMENOPHYLLUM ) 
FROM NORTH QUEENSLAND 
By D. A. Goy. 
Whilst working through the ferns collected by C. T. 
White and L. J. Brass from Thornton Peak, which lies a 
little to the north of the mouth of the Daintree River, in 
North Queensland, I noticed a rather small species of 
Hymenophyllum, which could not satisfactorily be placed 
under any previously described species from Queensland. 
At first it was thought to be a dwarf form of Hymeno- 
phyllum rarum R. Br., which occurs in south-eastern Aus- 
tralia and New Zealand. However, closer examination 
showed it to be quite different in a number of ways from 
that species. 
The main respects in which the North Queensland 
fern differs from H. rarum R. Br. may be summed up as 
follows : — 
H. rarum R. Br. 
Base of the sorus cuneate or 
wedged-shaped. 
Cuneate base of sorus im- 
mersed in the lobe. 
Sorus subtended by promin- 
ent Y-shaped branches of 
the vein. 
Fronds typically about 4 
ins. long, sometimes more. 
Fronds many-lobed. 
H. sp. nov . 
Base of the sorus truncate 
or straight. 
Base of sorus coinciding 
with the end of the lobe. 
Sorus subtended by obscure 
T-shaped branches of the 
vein. 
Fronds only 1 inch long. 
Fronds up to ten-lobed. 
