Art. XXXIV.— On Recent Changes in the Nomenclature of the New Zealand Ferns.

By John D. Ents.

[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, October 5, 1870.]

In the Synopsis Filicum of the late Sir W. J. Hooker and J. G. Baker (London: 1868), a considerable number of changes have been made in the names of the Ferns of New Zealand, given in Dr. J. D. Hooker's Handbook of the New Zealand Flora, 1864, and as these newly adopted names will be in future accepted and employed by botanists, I have drawn up the following list for the assistance of our local collectors.

It will be observed that the list also includes some new species, which have been added to the Flora of the country since the publication of the first volume of the Handbook, although some of them are mentioned in the “Additions, Corrections, etc.,” p. 722, of the second volume.

These new species are,—

Gleichenia dichotoma,—from the Hot-springs of Karapiti and Rotomahana.

Hymenophyllum ciliatum,—discovered by W. T. L. Travers, on the Nelson mountains.

Lomaria dura,—Chatham Islands.

Nephrodium unitum,—Hot-springs, North Island.

As regards Hymenophyllum œruginosum, Dr. Hooker does not agree with his father's opinion, and retains the name œruginosum, as he says that the plant from Tristan d'Acunha is not distinct from that found in New Zealand.

In the Synopsis, a new Trichomanes is described, and called Armstrongii, after the discoverer, a son of the Government Gardener of Canterbury.

[The list given by the author of this paper was imperfect, and has therefore been included in a complete corrected list of all New Zealand Ferns, which has been printed separately for the convenience of collectors, and issued with Part 2 of the Proceedings, 1870.—Ed.]