EILICES. 
471 
8 VITTARIA, Smith. 
Capsules stalked, with an incomplete vertical ring, splitting trans- 
versely. Sori linear, marginal or just intramarginal, immersed m a 
groove, the two more or less prominent edges of which are quite 
similar in texture to the rest of the frond. — Ferns with entire grass- 
like fronds, simple veining, and membranous, blackish reticulate scaies. 
Distrib. Warmer zones of both hemispheres. Species about 10. A 
genus doubtful in position between the involu crate and ex-involucrate 
series. 
Sori sunk in a deep groove with distinct lips. 
Lips of groove equal 1. V. elongata. 
Outer lip of groove broadest 2. V. lineata. 
Sori sunk in a groove without distinct lips .... 3. Y. scolopendrin'a. 
1. V. elongata. Sw. ; Hook. and Baker, Syn. Ml. 395. Rootstock 
short- creeping, in. thick. Frond sessile or narrowed to a short 
flattened stipe, 1-2 feet long, f in. broad at the middle, narrowed 
gradually to both ends. Veins long, parallel, distinct, ascending. Sorus 
continuous along the very edge of the back of the frond in a deep 
groove, the outer valve of which is scarcely broader than the inner. 
V. plantaginea, ensifolia, isoetifolia, and zostersefolia, Bojer , Hort. 
Maur. 403. 
Mauritius and Seychelles, common on old trunks in the forests. Spread 
through the tropics of the Old World. 
2. V. lineata, Sw. ; Hook, and Baker , Syn. Ml. 396. Rootstock 
short-creeping, ^ in. thick. Frond shorter, narrower, and thicker in 
texture than in V. elongata, with the sorus just within the edge, the 
outer valve of the deep groove broader than the inner and rolled over 
the sorus till it fully matures. V. isoetifolia, Bory ; Kuhn , Ml. Afr. 55, 
not Bojer. 
Seychelles, on trees in the forests, Berville, 94 ! Horne , 162 ! Spread through 
the warmer zones of both hemispheres. 
3. V. scolopendrina, Thwaites ; Hook, and Baker, Syn. Ml. 396. 
Rootstock much thicker than, in the two other species. Frond 1-2 
feet long, f-1 in. broad at the middle, narrowed gradually to an acute 
point and a short flattened stipe, the parallel erecto-patent veins dis- 
tinctly visible. Sorus distinctly intramarginal, sunk in a shallow 
groove, with no distinct lip on the inner side, the frond produced about 
half the breadth of the groove outside it. V. zeylanica and latipes, Bee. 
Seychelles, on trees in the thick forests of Mahe, Kirk ! Horne , 159 ! Mauri- 
tius, at Camisard, Lady Barkly ! Mozambique to Samoa. 
9. LINDS AY A, Dryand. 
Capsules stalked, splitting transversely, with an incomplete vertical 
