294 THE FERNS OF SOUTH AFRICA 
Rhodesia. — Umtali (Mrs Bennett; Miss Schultz, who brought down 
plants now growing in the Botanic Garden, Durban). 
Portuguese East Africa. — Macequece (Holland); Portuguese back 
country behind Beira, and abundant in Magenja da Costa (T. R. 
Sim). 
175. Platycerium angolense Welw. 
Plate 155. Plant, much reduced. 
Barren fronds two to three feet long, twelve to eighteen 
inches wide, overlapping to make a huge thalloid mass, the 
lower part of each frond spongy, the upper part membrana- 
ceous and conspicuously reticulated. Fertile fronds half to 
two feet long, nine to fifteen inches wide, firmly coriaceous, 
cuneate below, irregularly rounded above, undivided, some- 
what waved, often oblique, and having the sori in one mass 
all over the upper portion of the under surface. Epiphytal 
on trees. 
P. angolense Welw. Baker, Syn. Fil. 425, under P. aethiopicum 
Hk.; C. Chr. Ind. 496. 
Portuguese East Africa. — Sofala, Beira, and Magenja da Costa (T. R. 
Sim). 
Baker also mentions it from Angola, collected by Dr Wel- 
witsch. 
Sub-Order IV. Parkeriaceae. 
Genus 45. Ceratopteris Brong. 
Plant floating in still water, brittle. Capsules sessile, sub- 
globose, with an irregular ring. Sori round, scattered on veins 
parallel to the mid-rib, and covered by the reflexed margin. 
One species only. 
176. Ceratopteris thalictroides (L.) Brong. 
Plate 109. Fig. 3. Portion of fertile frond. B same, opened out. 
A very curious fern, floating in still tropical water, the 
barren fronds lying on the water and varying from simple 
with wide segments when young, up to two to three-pinnate, 
with narrow segments when mature, succulent and fragile, 
