Pacific Ferns, I — Brownlie 
245 
ing character of this variety, the extruded re- 
ceptacle, to be present only in some material 
from Fiji, and in that area the degree of extru- 
sion varies considerably. Other Fijian specimens 
do not have the receptacle extruded at all. In 
view of the range noted in this character, and 
the fact that it is not consistent, it is better 
to regard this as no more than a variety re- 
stricted to Fiji. 
Oleandra neriiformis Cav. 
Oleandra ciliata Kl. Kuhn Linn. 36, 126, 
1869; C Chr. Ind. Fil. 466, 1906. 
Christensen has already reduced many of the 
Pacific forms of Oleandra to synonyms of the 
widespread O. neriiformis, and an examination 
of a cotype of this species at the British Museum 
of Natural History shows that it does not go out- 
side the range of characters now accepted for 
that species. 
Adiantum novae-caledoniae Keys. 
Specimens of Adiantum from New Caledonia 
seem to have been variously identified as A. 
novae-caledoniae Keys., A. aneitense Carr., and 
A. fulvum Raoul, without any clear idea as to 
the distinguishing characters, if any, of these 
three species. A detailed examination of material 
from Aneitum, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, 
and New Zealand shows that they are not only 
easily distinguished morphologically, but are 
geographically isolated. All material from New 
Caledonia lacks rugose hairs on the upper sur- 
face of the pinnae, and the pinnules are usually 
markedly attenuated. These represent A. novae- 
caledoniae. Specimens from Aneitum also are 
glabrous on the upper surface and are sub- 
glaucous beneath, a character which is still very 
apparent in dried examples and which is not 
found in material from other areas. They also 
lack the definite lobing on the lower edge of the 
pinnules which is found in New Caledonian 
specimens. These form A. aneitense. A. fulvum 
as represented by material from New Zealand 
and Norfolk Island has rugose hairs on the up- 
per surface of the pinnae, a character not noted 
in any material from New Caledonia ascribed 
to this species. A summary of this discussion is 
given here. 
Rugose hairs on upper surface of pinnae A. 
fulvum ( New Zealand and Norfolk Island ) . 
Rugose hairs absent on upper surface: 
Pinnae subglaucous beneath 
...A, aneitense (Aneitum). 
Pinnae not subglaucous beneath. 
A. novae-caledoniae (New Caledonia). 
SUMMARY 
The small serrated-frond species of the genus 
Hymenophyllum are revised for the South Pa- 
cific islands region, and the morphological char- 
acters and distributions are clarified for one 
species of Arthropteris and three of Adiantum, 
while one species of Oleandra is reduced to 
synonymity, and a species of Microlepia is re- 
duced to varietal rank. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
I wish to thank Mr. F. Ballard of the Herb- 
arium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, for his 
assistance with this work, and I acknowledge 
my indebtedness to the Council of the Univer- 
sity of Canterbury for provision of the refresher 
leave during which it was undertaken. 
