HISTORY OP INTRODUCTION OP EXOTIC FERNS. 35 
fifty species, twenty of which, were Tree-ferns, and 
many new and interesting species. 
Before leaving tropical America I must say a few 
words respecting the West Indies, the Fern 
Flora of which is to a great extent identical with 
that of the countries on the Atlantic coast of 
South America. A tolerably accurate idea of the 
number of species indigenous to the West Indies may 
be obtained from Grisebach’s Flora of the islands 
belonging to Great Britain, where three hundred and 
forty are described, and their particular localities 
noted. Out of these, two hundred and twenty will be 
found enumerated in the following pages as already in 
our gardens; and as our intercourse with most of 
these islands is now so frequent, and the voyage ac- 
complished with such rapidity, we may expect ere long 
to receive all the most striking types of the remaining 
ones. Indeed, the West Indian correspondents of the 
Boyal Gardens at Kew, as well as those of several nur- 
serymen, and other private individuals, are continually 
forwarding Ferns to this country; and under these 
circumstances I do not think it worth while to men- 
tion any particular species ; but it is worthy of remark 
that among our desiderata is the numerous group 
represented by Polypodium tricliomanoides . 
Passing westwards to Ecuador and Peru, I might 
give a long list of desiderata, particularly of pretty 
little Alpine species from the Andes, belonging to 
Cheilanthes, Notholama, Asplenium, and Polypo- 
dium, but want of space compels me to confine my 
remarks to a few of the most desirable ones. In 
his second century of Ferns, Sir W. J. Hooker has 
figured a beautiful Polybotryci, named P. Lech- 
d 2 
