430 MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 
9. HEMITELIA, R. Br. 
Involucre at first globose, thin at the vertex, usually disappearing from the vertex 
before the capsules are ripe; the capsules then appear as a globose mass, half-exsert 
from a hemispheric cup having a slightly toothed margin. As the capsules ripen the cup 
withers or becomes less than a hemisphere, but is usually to be found as a patelliform 
scale (not as a mere lateral bullate scale) completely surrounding the base of the sporo- 
phore after the capsules have fallen. 
1. H. pEcretens, J. Scott, in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx. 33, t. 14. Rhachis of pinnules 
beneath bullate-scaly, not pubescent; veinlets (in the segments of a pinnule from 
the middle of a barren pinna) 2-branched and occasionally 3-branched ; sori in two 
rows, rarely occupying the whole breadth of the segment ; involucre membranous, at 
first globose, but reduced before the capsules are ripe to a hemispheric cup with an 
obscurely toothed margin.—Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 455. Alsophila decipiens, Bedd. 
Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 311, not good. Cyathea spinulosa, J. Scott, l.c. 32, t. 13 A; 
Kurz, For. Fl. Brit. Burma, ii. 572, not of Wall. Amphicosmia decipiens, Bedd. 
Ferns Brit. Ind. Suppl. 1. 
Sikkim; alt.1000—4000 feet, frequent. Bhotan; Kalimpoong, alt. 4000 feet, C..B. Clarke. 
Khasia; below Nungklow, Griffith, Hk. f- $ Thoms., and at the Bor Panee, Hk. Ji 
& Thoms. 
Attains 30-40 feet. Prickly, to the rhachis of the pinnules; pinnules glabrous or very 
nearly so; fertile segments narrowed in the fruit-bearing portion, or sometimes (in 
pinne from the same frond) not at all narrowed. This is specifically separated from ` T 
Cyathea spinulosa by the much rarer 3-branched veinlets and the young fruit, excellently 
figured by J. Scott, Z. c. t. 14. figs. 10, 11. 
I have no hesitation, with J. Scott's descriptions, figures, and type specimens before 
me, in uniting Cyathea spinulosa, J. Scott, to Hemitelia decipiens; the two are, so far as 
I can see, absolutely identical. Whether Cyathea spinulosa, Wall., really differs speci- 
fically may be questioned : it seems to have been collected only thrice; and it would be ` 
hazardous to conclude that the white globes of fruit, uniformly tough throughout their ` 
whole extent, are more than a casual variety of the fruit of the much commoner ` ` 
Hemitelia decipiens. 
2. H. Brunontana, C. B. Clarke. Rhachis of pinnules beneath more or less crisped- — 
pubescent; veinlets (in the segments of a pinnule from the middle of a barren 
pinna) 2-branched, none 3-branched ; involucre membranous, at first (at least some- 
times) globose, reduced before the capsules are ripe to a hemispherie cup or sub- 
patelliform scale. —Alsophila Brunoniana, Wall. ; Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 52. A. latebrose, ` 
var. hemitelioides, J. Scott, in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx. 34. 
Sikkim and Bhotan ; alt. 4000—7500 feet, very common. East Nepaul, Sir J. D. Hooker. 
Khasia ; alt. 3000-5000 feet, very common.— Distrib. Deccan. 
Usually 10-15 feet, attains 30-40 feet sometimes. POS eis muricated rhachis 
