402 ME. C. B. CLARKE ON FERNS OF NORTH INDIA. 



On Helvella California*. By William Phillips, F.L.S. 



[Abstract of Paper read June 5, 1879.] 



Helvella califobnica is the name of a new species of fungus 

 described by the above author, and an account of which, with a 

 plate, will be issued in the next Part of the Society's * Transac- 

 tions.' Its nearest ally is H. crista, Fr., from which it differs in 

 the colour of the hymenium and the stem, and in being a larger 

 species. Science is indebted to Dr. Harkness, of San Francisco, 

 for the collection of this new species, along with other forms of 

 fungi, gathered in 1876 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Cali- 

 fornia. 



Perns of North India. By C. B. Clarke, F.L.S. 



[Abstract of Paper read June 19, 1879.] 



The memoir, of which the following is but an epitomized sketch, 

 will subsequently appear in full in the Society's ' Transactions.' 

 It comprises descriptions, in English, with synonyms, of the 380 

 fern3 of Northern India, with notices of the more important 

 varieties, and is illustrated by 30 plates of the new species and 

 critical forms. It is drawn up in the form of an elaborate ap- 

 pendix to the 'Synopsis Filicum' of Hooker and Baker; and 

 therefore, unless there is something to add, the account in the 

 Synopsis is not copied. 



Under "Ferns" is included all the genera of the Synopsis; 

 there is also added a description of the 12 Lycopodiums and 4 

 ' Equisetums of North India- 



Under North India is included all British India, from Chitta- 

 gong westwards and northwards, excluding, therefore, the Deccan 

 peninsula, illustrated by Beddome in his € Ferns of Southern 

 India.' 



The mountains of North India, from Kashmir to Bhotan and 

 Chittagong, form one large botanic province ; the whole of the 

 Deccan, from Grwalior and Chota Nagpore to Ceylon, forms 



another. 



outhern 



H 



yesterday. The two regions, distinct alike geologically and 

 botanically, are separated by the plain of the Ganges and Punjab, 



