14 Bower. — Studies in the Phytogeny of the Filicales. VI. 
rowed, and the state of the annulus is essentially the same, though the 
number of the indurated cells is larger. 
In her memoir on the Acrosticheae, Frau Eva Schumann has con* 
structed a conspectus of the genus Leptochilus , using among other characters 
those of the spore. 1 The spores of L. tricuspis (and L. various ) are 
bilateral, with smooth walls and no epispore. In these characters they 
differ from those of other pinnate species of Leptochilus . But if comparison 
in this feature be made with the Ferns to which a relation has been suggested 
on other grounds, a correspondence is found. The naked bilateral spores of 
L. tric 7 ispis are matched by those of Platy cerium, of Neoclieiropteris , and of 
Dipteris . These are significant facts, which suggest that L. tricuspis does 
not find its natural place in the genus Leptochilus . But before its actual 
probable position can be assigned, it will be necessary to examine certain 
other, presumably allied Ferns. 
N EOCHEIROPTERIS. 
The Fern named N eocheiropteris palmatopedata (Bale.), Christ, was found 
by Abbe Delavay, in 1883, near Tapintze. It was again collected by Henry 
in Yunnan, in 1898, and later by other collectors, but always in sparing 
numbers. It was originally named Polypodium palmatopedatum by Baker. 2 
It was described briefly by Christ, 3 and subsequently in more detail and with 
drawings 4 under the name Cheiropteris , which was subsequently changed to 
Neoclieiropteris , for reasons of nomenclature. It was found to have a 
hypogean rhizome, bearing ovate scales, ciliate reticulate, and acuminate : 
a pedatifid leaf, with middle lobe erect, and two lateral lobes, patent and 
pedate, the venation of the pinnae reticulate. The Fern is homophyllous. 
Its large naked sori were described as being on the enlarged end of a vein ; 
the sporangia as having short stalks with vertical annulus, incomplete, 
of about seventeen cells: the spores bilateral, pellucid, and yellow. Christ 
drew particular attention to the elongation of the sori parallel to the costa, 
so as almost to form an elongated sorus following the foliar axes. He 
suggested a place for the Fern between Dipteris Horsfieldi and Hemionitis 
e legalist 
A single specimen collected by Henry in Yunnan is in the Glasgow 
University Herbarium (Plate I, Fig. 4). Upon this, together with the exam- 
ination of a specimen in the Herbarium at Kew, the following statements are 
based. The rhizome is rather thick and fleshy. The scales which cover it 
are peltate, and they are borne on emergences, so that they project slightly 
1 Flora, 1915, p. 250. 2 Kew Bull., 1898, 232. 
3 Bull. Herb. Boiss., 1898, p. 876. 
4 Bull. Herb. Boiss., 1899, pp. 21-22, PI. I; see also Diels, Engler und Prantl, i, 4, p. 188, 
where the figure is reproduced. 
5 A very good photograph on a reduced scale is published in Christ’s Geographic der Fame, 
p. 197, Fig. 87. 
