476 filices. [ Lonchitis . 
Involucre narrow, membranous, soon disappearing. Pteris pubescens, 
Kuhn , Fil. Afr. 88. 
Mauritius, in the forests of the Pouce, Grand Bassin, etc. Seychelles, Dr. 
Kirk ! Africa and America, principally the former, reaching far down south and 
into the Cape territory. 
13. OCHROPTERIS, J. Sm. 
Capsules stalked, splitting transversely, with an incomplete vertical 
ring. Sori marginal, oblique, varying in shape from orbicular to 
oblong. Involucre formed of the reflexed edge of the frond modified in 
texture and wrapped over the sorus. A single species. 
1. O. pallens, /. Smith; Hook, and Baker, Syn. Fil. 127. Root- 
stock like that of a hare’s-foot Davallia, stout, wide-creeping, densely 
clothed with linear-subulate bright reddish-brown scales. Stipe a foot 
or more long, straw-coloured, glossy, naked. Frond 1-2 feet long, del- 
toid, glabrous, rigidly subcoriaceous, 4-pinnate. Pinnae and pinnules 
deltoid, the lowest the largest. Final entire lobes erecto-patent, close, 
oblong-trapezoid, acute, -jV-f bi. broad. Sori placed at the tip of the 
lobes, -gV— J in. long, Involucre firm, broad, persistent, at first pale, 
finally brown. Adiantum pallens, Sw. ; Bojer, Hort. Maur. 405. 
Pteris pallens, Jlett. ; Kuhn , Fil. Afr. 86. 
Mauritius, in the forests of the Pouce, Grand Bassin, and other hill ranges. Also 
Bourbon and Madagascar. 
14. PELL® A, Link. 
Capsules stalked, with an incomplete vertical ring, splitting trans- 
verse^. Sori marginal, at the first in dots, soon confluent into irregular 
lines. Involucre the same shape as the sorus, narrow or broad, formed 
of the modified edge of the frond wrapped over the sorus. — Q-enerally 
small or middle-sized ferns of subcoriaceous or membranous texture, 
with free veins and glossy dark brown or black rachises. Distrib. 
Tropical and warm temperate regions of both hemispheres. Species 45. 
Frond small, with the main rachis winged all through. 
Frond densely pilose • . 1. P. pilosa. 
Frond glabrous • 2. P. geraxi®folia. 
Frond large, decompound, with small ultimate seg- 
ment and a broad involucre 3. P. Barely®. 
Frond large 1-3 -pinnate, with large ultimate segments 
and a narrow involucre. 
Veins free. 
Frond simply pinnate 4. P. Doniaxa. 
Frond 2-3 pinnate, with segments cuneate at the 
base 5. P. hastata. 
Frond 2-3-pinnate, with segments cordate at the base 6. P Boivixi. 
Veins anastomosing. Frond bipinnate with cordate 
segments 7. P angulosa. 
1. P. pilosa, Hook. ; Hook . and Baker , Syn, Fil. 145. Fronds 
