Bower . — Studies in the Phytogeny of the Fi tic ales. 279 
Cyatheaceae show primitive characters, such as compare in any degree 
with those of G. pectinata. 
Lophosoria pruinata, Presl. 
(— Atsophila quadripinnata , Gmel.). 
The Fern so named has passed under various designations, and has 
commonly been regarded as an outstanding species. It was called Poly- 
podium griseum by Schkuhr. Swartz named it Polypodium pruinatum. 
In 1848 Presl isolated it as the only species of a distinct genus, under 
the name of Lophosoria pruinata , but Sir William Hooker reduced it to 
Atsophila , and it appears in the ‘ Species Filicum ’ (vol. i, p. 47) as A. prui - 
nata, Kaulf. It is, however, there remarked that ‘in habit and appear- 
ance this is extremely distinct from any other Atsophila, and the receptacles 
are very slightly elevated, so that it must be considered but a doubtful 
species of the genus ’. It bears the same name in the ‘ Synopsis Filicum ’, 
where as species 34, not only is it not accorded the dignity of a special 
section of the genus, but it is ranked indiscriminately among the ordi- 
nary species. Diels (‘Nat. Pflanzenfam.’, i. 4, p. 135) treats it in some- 
what the same way, but remarks that it is a peculiar species. Christ 
(‘ Farnkrauter ’, p. 236) passes it under the name Atsophila pruinata , 
Kaulf., but places it in the section Lophosorus , Presl. Grisebach (‘ Flora 
of the British West Indies p. 703) names it Lophosoria pruinata, Pr., and 
goes so far as to place it as a substantive genus, with Cyathea interven- 
ing between it and Atsophila. Finally, in Christensen’s Index it appears 
as Atsophila quadripinnata, (Gmel.) C. Chr. 
The best description hitherto given is that by Q. S. Jenman, in his 
‘ Synoptical List of Jamaican Ferns ’. Ranking the plant under Atsophila, 
as species 6 , A. pruinata, Kaulf., his description is as follows : — 
Stem short, rarely 3 ft. high, clothed densely with laniferous scales (sic) ; 
stipites 3-6 ft. long, or more, arching, faintly impressed, rather polished, 
naked, except at the base; fronds 4-6 ft. long, 3-5 ft. wide, subdeltoid, tri- 
pinnate, pale green above, frost-coloured beneath, coriaceous, costae and 
costulae pubescent above, the pinnulae lanate on the ribs beneath ; pinnae 
large, apart, petioled, lowest pair deflexed and a little reduced, next above 
1 1-2-1 ft. long, 6-10 in. wide; pinnulae lax, petiolate, 3-6 in. long, i-i^ in. wide, 
serrate-acuminate, the lowest segment situated on the superior side ; tertiary 
segments in. long, 1^-3 in. wide, acute, deeply cut into deltoid lobes in 
which the veins are pinnate ; sori at the base of the lobes, at the apex of the 
lowest venule on the upper side near the crenulated sinus ; sporangia few, 
rather large, roundish, mixed with copious lanate scales (sic). Polypodium, 
Swartz, Lophosoria , Presl, Plum-Fil. t. 33. 
Very plentiful in forest shade from 3,000 ft. alt. to the highest ridges. 
The caudex, which is 3-4 inches in diameter, buds and throws up from the 
base a number of minor stems about half the size of the primary one. The 
petioles are sometimes as much as 10 ft. long, giving the fronds an immense 
