76 
NOTES ON COLLECTING FERNS. 
none of which, however, can be said to be common. They 
occur only in small numbers, and usually in the deep 
jungle. The four Bornean genera are Angiopteris, Marattia , 
Macroglossum and Kaulfussis. Of these Macroglossum is, so 
far as is known, peculiar to Sarawak. In all of these the 
prothallium is often of relatively great size. 
The Marattiacese are specially interesting to the botanist, 
because they are more nearly related to the majority of the 
older fossil ferns than are any other existing ferns. Most 
of the abundant ferns and fern-like plants occurring as 
fossils in the coal measures, for example, are either true 
Marattiacese, or are closely related to them. 
The primitive nature of the living Marattiacese is shown 
by the prothallium, which attains much greater dimen¬ 
sions than that of any of the common ferns, and may live 
for several years. The writer recently, in Sumatra, found 
prothallia of a species of Angiopteris more than an inch 
across, and very thick and fleshy, so that it was hard to 
believe that they were fern-prothallia and not large 
liverworts. 
The prothallium is always more massive than in the 
ordinary ferns, and the reproductive organs quite different. 
Where very young plants (sporophytes) are attached to the 
prothallium, they can at once be distinguished from the 
common ferns by their position. In the Marattiacese the 
young fern always grows through the prothallium, the first 
leaf emerging from the upper surface of the prothallium. 
In the ordinary ferns the first leaf emerges on the lower 
surface, and bends upward in front of the prothallium 
apex. 
The most interesting of the Bornean Marattiacese is a 
fine fern to which Professor E. B. Copeland gave the name 
Macroglossum alidce . This is a very handsome fern with 
leaves sometimes upwards of 12 ft. in length. It was 
found first at Bau by Mr. Young, and later by Mr. Moulton 
at Penrissen. The writer saw a single specimen at the 
base of Mount Matang, and also visited the station at Bau, 
where the plant was growing luxuriantly, and where a 
number of young plants and prothallia were secured. The 
latter are much like those of Angiopteris , with which 
Macroglossum is undoubtedly related. 
Since leaving Borneo the writer made a brief visit to 
the famous botanical gardens at Buitenzorg in Java, and 
to his astonishment found there a fine plant of a fern 
apparently identical with the Sarawak species. This 
