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three fertile ones. The sterile fronds are very much contorted
and curled. They are not over an inch long, and are very slender.
In section they are nearly flat on one face, and slightly
convex on the other, and show a single minute central vascular
thread. The surface is minutely striated. The fertile fronds
are no broader than the sterile, but are a little thicker : they are
slightly tortuous, or nearly straight, and rise to the height of
three or four inches. The fertile appendage at the top is about
a quarter of an inch long: it is ovate in shape, and composed
of four to six pairs of oblong-clavate pinnæ, the lowest only two
lines long.' The two sides of the appendage are usually folded
.together, at least in the dried specimens. Examined under a
microscope, each pinna of the appendage is found to be concave,
or boat-shaped, having a broad thickened keel, and thin
sides composed of obliquely-placed elongated transparent cells.
The margin bears a few one-celled amber-colored flattened hairs.
Resting in the boat, like a double row of jugs, are eight or ten
ovate sporangia, their side-walls of oblong, tortuous-margined
cells, and the ring represented by a radiated apical cap. The
spores are ovoid-reniform, and have a smooth surface.
The genus Schizæa consists of about sixteen species, most
of them tropical or sub-tropical. One species occurs in the
Falkland and Auckland Islands, two in New Zealand, two in
Cape Colony, and several in South America.
Plate XX IV., Fig. 3. — Schizæa p u s i l la :— From specimens sent by
Mr. C. F. Parker of Camden, New Jersey. The details require no special
explanation.
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