MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 445 
stipes clustered, not articulate. This fern does not resemble Alsophila except in the 
size of the fronds, which are not rarely 6 feet in diam. It so closely resembles Diacalpe 
aspidioides that, as to some fragments in over-ripe fruit, I am not sure whether they are 
Diacalpe or Davallia nodosa. An example with rather larger segments and sori than 
usual has been separated by Mr. Baker, and marked D. spheropteroides provisionally, 
but is perhaps only meant to be a variety. Mettenius places this fern in Cystopteris, 
alleging that the sori in their evolution are not truly terminal on the vein. But if on 
that ground this fern is to be placed in Cystopteris, it will be better to unite Cystopteris 
and Davallia. The present fern is unlike all other Leucostegias, and by habit, as well as 
by the character of the rhizome, belongs rather to sect. Microlepia. 
Sect. III. Hudavallia. Rhizome long-creeping; stipes solitary, distant, articulated 
upon the rhizome; involucre subcoriaceous, cylindric, attached by the sides as 
well as by the base. 
9. D. DivaricaTa, Blume, Enum. Pl. Jav. Fil. 237. Scales of the rhizome long-lan- 
ceolate, caudate, chestnut-coloured ; involucres as long as broad.—Hook. Sp. Fil. 
i. 167; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 96, not of Schldl. D. polyantha, Hook. Sp. Fil. 
i. 168, t. 59 a; Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 107. 
Sikkim, WV. S. Atkinson. Mishmee and Khasia, Griffith. Seems very rare in North 
India.—Distrib. Malaya, South China. 
10. D. GRIFFITHIANA, Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 168, t. 49 B. Scales of the rhizome long-lan- 
. ceolate, caudate, white or yellowish; involucres broader than long.—Bedd. Ferns 
Brit. Ind. t. 106; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 96. 
Bhotan and Mishmee, Griffith. Khasia and Jaintea; alt. 3000-5000 feet, Griffith, 
Hk. f. & T., C. B. Clarke.—Distrib. South China. (Baker adds Malay Peninsula; but 
I do not find any examples thence at Kew.) 
The involucres in this species are very shortly attached on the sides, and the species 
. might be placed in the section Leucostegia (as in a field-note of Sir J. D. Hooker). 
11. D. suLLATA, Wall. Cat. 258. Scales of the rhizome hair-pointed, from a lanceolate 
base, chestnut-coloured; involucres longer than broad.— Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 169, t. 50 
B; Bedd. Ferns South. Ind. t. 17; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 97. D. dimidiata, Dene. 
in Jacquem. Voy. Bot. t. 178. 
Himalaya ; from Nepaul to Bhotan, alt. 2000-6000 feet, common. Khasia; alt. 2000- 
5000 feet, common.—Distrib. Bombay Ghats, Wynaad, Ceylon, Malay Peninsula and 
Islands, South China, Japan. 2 
In all these Davallias the scales of the rhizome must be taken for examination from 
near the growing or stipe-bearing extremities. In D. bullata the scales on the older 
. portions of the rhizome are sometimes ovate-obtuse, exceedingly like those of D. pul- 
` chro, Don. ` ` : : K ZE 
