4 
Tansley and Lulliam. 
stem in Pteris (Litobrochia) incisa, Thunb., var. integrifolia we 
believe may give the clue to the solution of this difficulty. 
Pteris incisa. 
Our specimens of this plant were gathered in the woods near 
the top of Gunong Hijau in Perak (Malay Peninsula). They agree 
very well with three specimens in the Kew Herbarium, one collected 
by Scortechini and two by L. Wray, junr., all three also from 
Perak. The variety differs from the type of this very variable 
species in the fact of its pinnules being entire instead of wavy-edged 
or even pinnatifid. 1 The texture of the leaves, in our plants at 
least, is also more coriaceous than in the type and the plant appears 
to have longer and more straggling fronds. The anatomical struc¬ 
ture of the node of our variety is also, as we shall see, consider¬ 
ably more complicated than in the typical P. incisa. 
Gwynne-Vaughan (’03) in his recent important paper on the 
Anatomy of Solenostelic Ferns has described this species as 
possessing a typical solenostele from which is given off a curved 
leaf-trace directly facing the median dorsiventral plane of the 
rhizome (pp. 691-2). Since the striking complications connected 
with the insertion of the leaf-trace in our plant are not mentioned 
in Vaughan’s account, he has been good enough to lend us some 
of his preparations to compare with our own (Fig. 4). From this 
comparison it is evident that there are wide differences between 
the vascular structure of the type and that of the variety. 2 Thus 
the internodal solenostele has a considerably greater diameter and a 
more wavy outline in the variety, while the leaf-trace is much 
larger in proportion even to the larger stem-stele and has a far 
more complicated outline. There are also certain histological 
differences, and from their anatomy one would scarcely suspect the 
two plants of belonging to the same species. Considering however 
the great differences that have come under our own observation in 
the anatomy of one and the same species, e.g. Matonia pcctinata, 
Lindsaya orbiculata type, and var. tenera, we are not prepared ta 
say that either of the plants under consideration has been wrongly 
1 Sec R. H. Beddome, Ferns collected in Perak and Penang by 
Mr. J. Day. Journ. of Bot. 26, 1888, p. 2; and Beddome, 
Scortechini’s Malayan Ferns. Idem , 1896, p. 225. 
2 We are not prepared to say that the differences of vascular 
structure between our plant and Gwynne-Vauglian’s are 
constant as between the type and this variety. The species 
is an extremely variable one, sometimes possessing leaves 
of enormous length, and the larger leaved individuals other 
than those belonging to our variety may well show 
similar deviations from Vaughan’s simple structure. 
