4o6 Bower. — Studies in the Phytogeny of the Filicales . 
of pteridologists and have been repeatedly figured and discussed. The point 
of interest in them lies in the fact that they illustrate various intermediate 
conditions between Blechnum and Scolopendrium^ and that the broader the 
fertile leaves are, the nearer they approach to the latter state. PI. XXX, 
Figs. 27 bis and iris show respectively a leaf and a portion of a leaf of the 
var. Krebsii , in which the width of the fertile pinna is a striking feature. 
The varieties of Blechnum punctulatum which are associated with the 
extreme form named var. Krebsii were discovered near Grahamstown by 
Krebs. The first detailed description was given by Kunze (Die Farn- 
krauter, 1847, p. 176, Taf. LXXIV) under the name of Scolopendrium Krebsii, 
Kunze, including with it various forms, some with broader leaves and sori 
of the Scolopendrium type, others narrower and Blechnoid. The former he 
regarded as the normal type, the latter as derived from it by contraction. 
He notes the habit as of Lomaria punctulata , but compares it, on the other 
hand, with Scolopendrium pinnatum , J. Sm., on the ground of the pinnate 
form of the leaf. Mettenius (Fil. Hort. Lips., p. 67) evidently shared this 
view, ranking the plant with Scolopendrium , and regarding the narrower 
forms as derivative. But Sir William Hooker (Species Filicum, iii, p. 30, 
and Bot. Mag., No. 4768) includes it under Lomaria punctulata, Kze., as an 
abnormal form. He remarks, c I have specimens from Mr. Atherstone in 
my herbarium clearly showing the passage from L. punctulata , Sw., to 
Scolopendrium Krebsii , Kze.’ Such forms have been described as B. punctu- 
latum, var. Atherstoni , Pappe ; examples hardly diverging from the Blechnum 
condition of the sorus were sent to me from Durban by Mr. J. Medley 
Wood, F.L.S. Hooker derived all these varieties from a ‘punctulata' source 
thus : * I possess fertile fronds, however, where the pinnae are unusually 
broad at the base, the rest of the pinna being contracted ; then the sori 
within the broader portion are irregularly waved and partially broken up 
into short pieces, which have a tendency to an oblique direction (not parallel 
with the costa). Where the whole of the fertile pinna takes a manifestly 
broader form throughout, I find the sorus broken up into Woodwardia- or 
Doodia-Yike involucres, more or less oblique with regard to the costa, still 
preserving an imperfect contiguity. But when the fertile pinnae are at the 
broadest the sori are completed separated into very oblique, almost trans- 
verse, double sori, distant from the costa, sometimes half-way between it 
and the margin ; and if one of the more transparent specimens of these be 
held up between the eye and the light, and examined with a pocket lens, it 
will be seen that the costal areoles formed by the transverse receptacular 
veins of Lomaria are singularly elongated, together with the receptacular 
vein itself, carrying its portion of the sorus with it, taking nearly the shape 
of an inverted letter V. The broken portion of the sorus or involucre is, if 
I may so say, carried along with it, and thus is formed an abnormal double 
involucre, the two opening face to face and resembling those of Scolo- 
