The Philippine Journal of Science, C. Botany. 
Vol. IX, No. 5, September, 1914. 
HAWAIIAN FERNS COLLECTED BY M. L’ABBe U. FAURIE 
By Edwin Bingham Copeland 
{From the College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines, 
Los Banos, P. I.) 
More than three years ago, M. l’Abbe Faurie placed in my 
hands a remarkably complete collection of the ferns of Hawaii, 
which he made during the years 1909 and 1910. Partly because 
of the pressure of other duties, and partly because I understood 
that two other students of ferns were preparing general pub- 
lications on the ferns of the Hawaiian Archipelago, I postponed 
the careful study of this collection until recently. One of these 
works has now been published, 1 and it is my understanding that 
the other work in question has been given up. 
The ferns of the Hawaiian Islands have probably received 
from Doctor W. J. Hillebrand 2 more careful study than any man 
has ever given to those of any other limited area in the tropics. 
Lying as they do on a main route of the world’s travel, the 
Hawaiian Islands have from early times been visited by many 
collectors, and for this reason, as well as because of the long 
sojourn of Doctor Hillebrand in the islands, their ferns are 
particularly well known. On the one hand, the admirable de- 
scriptions in Doctor Hillebrand’s Flora make the study of these 
ferns easier than they would be if they came from almost any 
other part of the tropics. On the other hand, the ferns of 
Hawaii constitute in themselves a group of phenomenal difficulty. 
The isolated position of the Archipelago has resulted, in several 
genera, in the development of a flora altogether peculiar and 
local. Thus in the ferns, we have two genera, Diellia and Sad- 
lerict, each with a considerable number of species which have 
unquestionably been developed locally from a common ancestor. 
In both cases, the ancestor can be fixed with a considerable 
measure of certainty and exactness. 
1 W. J. Robinson, The Ferns of the Hawaiian Islands, Bull. Torrey Bot. 
Club 40 (1913). 
2 W. J. Hillebrand, Flora of Hawaii (1888). 
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