230 
THE FERNS OF SOUTH AFRICA 
together with the plain or only slightly reflexed pinnules of 
hirta ; and every intermediate stage occurs between that and 
both the others. 
Var. contracta extends as far north as Kuruman, Be- 
chuanaland, and is one of the few ferns of the Karroo 
and Namaqualand. I have seen Transvaal specimens from 
Johannesburg, Heidelberg, Belfast and Koedoespoort. 
122. Cheilanthes parviloba Sw. 
Plate 1 1 2. Large frond. Nat. size, b Part of pinnule, enlarged. 
c Capsule. 
Plate hi. Fig. 2. Nat. size, b Pinnule, enlarged. 
Crown procumbent, or with a simple or tufted rhizome 
two to three inches long, set with brown scales. Frond three- 
pinnatifid, six to eighteen inches long, one to five inches 
broad, lanceolate, with pinnae considerably reduced below, or 
sometimes ovate-lanceolate pointed, with the lower pinnae 
not much reduced. Pinnae twelve to twenty pairs, opposite 
below, alternate above, three-quarters to three inches long, 
one-half to three-quarter inch broad, linear-lanceolate acu- 
minate, with six to ten pairs of alternate shining green 
glabrous pinnules, which are triangular, half inch or less 
long, and as much broad at the base ; cut to the mid-rib 
into one to two pairs of ovate-toothed segments lying parallel 
to the rachis ; above these the pinnule is contracted into an 
ovate-oblong lobe two lines long, one line broad, rounded at 
the apex, and with five to seven teeth on each side, each 
tooth slightly hooded at the point, the hood forming the 
indusium, unchanged in texture, not fringed with hairs, and 
not nearly covering the one or occasionally two capsules 
which go to a sorus. Stipe three to six inches long, scaly 
at the very base only, but set throughout, as well as the 
rigid rachis and mid-rib, with hairs like those of C. hirta , but 
harder, more bristly, more adpressed, and seldom glandular. 
Both surfaces of the lamina are destitute of hairs, but have 
sessile glands, hardly visible until magnified, but so viscid as 
to make specimens adhere to the paper in which they are 
