246 
Davie . — The Structure and 
venules anastomosing. It is separated from the Cyatheae (p. i8j), ‘ because 
the pedicellate sori of Sphaeropteris cannot in my opinion be viewed as 
an elevated receptacle Smith adds, ‘ On viewing their 1 habit and characters 
in every other respect I do not hesitate in placing them in this tribe ’ 
(Aspidieae). In Hooker’s ‘Species Filicum ’ (1846) Peranema is again 
described under the name of Sphaeropteris , Wall., and is placed in the 
Woodsieae, the second sub-tribe of the Dicksonieae, Gaud. In 1856 
it was described by Mettenius in his ‘ Filices Horti Botanici Lipsiensis * and 
by him put, with Woodsia and Diacalpe , in the Aspidiaceae, Group IV 
of the Polypodiaceae. R. H. Beddome in the ‘ Perns of Southern India ’ 
(1863) places it in the Polypodiaceae, in the group Peranemeae. It there 
follows the Davallieae, with Davallia and Microtepia y and immediately 
precedes the Cyatheae, with Cyathea and Alsophila. Robert Brown in 
1867 gave a full description of Peranema , placing it in his family Polypodi- 
aceae. He remarks that it is clearly to be distinguished from several 
Cyatheae, but is closely related to Woodsia mexicana , R.Br. ‘ Hoc ultimo 
charactere et reticulatione involucri a Cyatheis nonnullis (involucro e medio 
venae orto) praesertim distinguenda ; arctiori tamen affinitate nixa cum 
Woodsia, mediante specie mexicana ( W. mexicana , Nob.).’ Hooker and 
Baker in the ‘Synopsis Filicum 5 (1874) place it in their Dicksonieae. 
H. Christ in ‘ Die Farnkrauter der Erde ’ (1897) places it in the Aspidiaceae. 
And Diels in Engler and Prantl’s ‘ Naturliche Pflanzenfamilien ’ includes it 
in the Woodsieae- Woodsiinae group of Polypodiaceae — the group which 
immediately succeeds the group Cyatheaceae. 
From the differing positions in which the Fern has been placed it 
is evident that its systematic position is one of difficulty and debate. The 
prevailing tendency has been to relate it to the Woodsia group, a group 
included in the Polypodiaceae by most systematists, in the Dicksonieae by 
Hooker and Baker. In Wallich’s account of the Fern (‘ Plantae Asiaticae 
Rarae ’, p. 42) he says of his own specimen sent to the East India Company’s 
Museum : ‘In the Museum just mentioned the Fern was labelled “ Cyathea 
? barbata, Wall, vix non genus novum, Sphaeropteris, Nob. non Bernhardi”.’ 
This confusion of Peranema with Cyathea by the Museum authorities 
is also suggested in David Don’s description in the ‘ Prodromus Florae 
Nepalensis where the following concluding observation is made : ‘ Obs. 
Genus a Cyathea, cui affine, omnino distinctum : indusiis sphaericis indivisis 
pedicellatis.’ Robert Brown’s remark, already quoted, confirms this 
suggestion of an affinity with the Cyatheaceae. On the other hand, 
Mettenius and Christ place it in the Aspidiaceae, while C. B. Clarke in the 
‘ Review of the Ferns of Northern India ’ (* Trans. Linn. Soc.’, 2nd series, 
i, p. 435, 1880) describes Peranema as difficult to separate, when without 
fruit, from Aspidinm spectabile , Wall. The intermediate position between 
1 i. e. Diacalpe, Sphaeropteris , Woodsia, Hypoderris. 
