4 6 
THE FERNS OF SOUTH AFRICA 
been the few ferns sent out in Herbarium Normale Austro- 
Africanum , by Messrs MacOwan and Bolus. 
In recent years many numbered collections have been 
formed and distributed to a small extent, but that distributed 
by Mr R. Schlechter was so large and was supplied to so 
many leading herbaria that it is necessary to call attention 
to the unfortunately numerous errors of nomenclature among 
the ferns. 
A most interesting collection of plants was made by the 
Percy Sladen Memorial Expeditions under Dr Pearson into 
the north-west region, Namaqualand and Damaraland, which 
included a considerable number of ferns, mostly characteristic 
of sheltered crevices in arid country. 
The ferns of the Waterberg district of the Transvaal were 
studied and specimens collected some years ago by Rev. H. 
Junod, and in other parts of the Transvaal extensive col- 
lections have been made by Mrs R. Pott, Curator of the 
Transvaal Museum Herbarium (formerly Miss R. Leendertz), 
and by her assistant Miss M. Collins, and also by Mr J. B. 
Pole-Evans and Miss E. Doidge, who have formed a good 
collection in connection with the Agricultural Department, 
Division of Botany. 
In 1909 Mr G. Duthie, Supt of Education, Rhodesia, 
submitted to me 25 species collected in the Mazoe district 
by a school pupil, Mr Eric Eyles, including one new species 
( Asplenium Eylesii) and several previously unrecorded from 
Rhodesia, and Mr Eyles and his father (Mr F. Eyles) have 
since then sent many additional species from Southern 
Rhodesia. 
In 1910 Mr James Sim inspected the forest districts of 
S. Rhodesia, and collected a good many ferns mostly on the 
Zambesi near the Victoria Falls, and on the Gwaai River, 
and in sending them to me he states: “most of the Rhodesian 
ferns, like the rest of the vegetation, are deciduous, so only a 
few were available in winter.” Mr H. Ffolliott-Darling had 
previously sent me many specimens from Rhodesia, as also 
had Mr H. Marshall Plole, C.C., Mrs Bennett, Mr B. H. 
Holland, and Mr G. Richards (M.L.A., Natal), while Oates 
