HISTORY OP INTRODUCTION OP EXOTIC FERNS. 81 
my herbarium are required to settle this point. In 
Venezuela there is the remarbable Amjphiblestra lati- 
folia, a Fern resembling some of the larger species of 
Aspidium in habit and appearance, but having a line 
of confluent sori on the margin like the Pteridice, to 
which tribe it is generally referred, some authors retain- 
ing it under Humboldt’s name, Pterislatifolia, and also a 
species of Trichomanes of extraordinary size, T. Kun- 
zeanum, nearly allied to our own Irish species T. radi- 
cans, but with rather rigid fronds, from two to three 
feet in length. One or two species of Lindscea are 
also found in Venezuela, particularly the neat L. stricta, 
with fronds varying from pinnate to tri-pinnate, though 
most commonly bi-pinnate. But the head-quarters of 
the genus Lindscea in the Western hemisphere are 
Guiana, where is found the rare L. reniformis ,* resem- 
bling in the general appearance of its fronds the well- 
'knownAdiantitmren'iforme,&iid the yet to be introduced 
Gymnogramme reniformis of Brazil, a rare plant even 
in herbaria. The exceedingly beautiful L. trapeziformis, 
which has bi-pinnate fronds two feet or more in height, 
is also found here, as well as in other parts of tropical 
America and the West Indies. I may remark that, 
notwithstanding that some of the loosely compiled 
garden catalogues in common use among gardeners 
mention as many as twenty-six species of this genus 
being in cultivation, I know of only two, and I 
have made many inquiries upon the subject. The 
genus contains upwards of sixty described species, dis- 
persed over the tropical and sub-tropical countries of 
Lately introduced by Messrs. Backhouse of York, but yet 
rare. 
