460 MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN. INDIA. 
ultimate segments more acutely serrate; but I suspect Milde's stock of Himalayan 
material on which he ventured this distinction was small. I have collected the plant 
more than twenty times between Dhurmsala and the Karakorum. None resemble the 
American var. acrostichoides—The name of this fern is a queest. vex. Most writers 
prefer Allosorus crispus, Bernh., who first separated the species from Pteris; but 
Allosorus has been so variously understood that the genus has been altogether dropped 
by Sir W. J. Hooker. 
19. PELLÆA, Link. 
1. P. eracus, Hook. Sp. Fil ii. 138, t. 133 B. Glabrous; rhizome wiry, creeping; 
. stipes not tufted; fronds 1-2-pinnate, often with the lowest pinne barren, the 
upper fertile ; young sori subterminal on the veins, clustered, not forming a marginal 
line till old—Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 145. <Allosorus Stelleri, Ruprecht, in Ledeb. 
Fl. Ross. iv. 526; Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 73. A. gracilis, Asa Gray, Man. Bot. 
(ed. v.) 659, t. 15. Pteris gracilis, Michx. Fl. Bor.-Amer. ii. 262. Pt. Stelleri, 
Gmel. fide Ruprecht, 7. c. 
Balti; alt. 9000 feet, T. Thomson. Kumaon; Champua, alt. 10,000 feet, Strachey & 
Winterbottom. Kashmir; Pir Punjul, alt. 11,000 feet, C. B. Clarke. Karakorum ; 
alt. 11,500-18,000 feet, C. B. Clarke.—Distrib. Lake Baikal region, Canada and 
Northern United States, e SCH | 
Scales about the base of the stipe linear, pale brown, a few scattered on the lower part 
of the stipe.—In the absence of young fruit and of the rhizome, Indian examples of this 
are easily distinguished from all forms of Cryptogramme crispa, in that they have fre- 
quently the fronds barren below, fertile above, as mentioned by Ruprecht for the Baikal 
fern. The North-American form has the barren and fertile fronds distinct, as figured 
by Hooker and copied by Beddome. g 
2. P. Tampurt, Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 134, t. 199 a. Fronds 5-3- pedatifid, the segment 
: 1-2-pinnatifid, whitened beneath.—Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 146. 
East Nepaul; Tambur River, Sir J. D. Hooker. 
Once collected—viz. five fronds in fruit with the upper portions of their v ey but no 
rhizome. Evidently a splendid and be UU so dero 
3. P. NITIDULA, Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 149. Tufted; stipe and main rhachis minutely ` ` 
scabrid-pubescent ; frond 1-2-pinnate.— Cheilanthes nitidula, Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 112 pur 
Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 912; Mett. Farngatt. Cheil: 50; Bedd. Ferns Brit. — t. ge ` ; 
Pteris nitidula, Wall. Cat. 89. Dor 
Kashmir; alt. 3000-6000 feet; frequent and plentiful to Chumba; scarce eastward to 2 : 
the Alps of Kumaon, where Wallich originally got it. : i 
. Besides the pubescence, there are linear scales on the stipe, which are very permanent. d 
—In the absence of the rhizome and the young fruit, this is easily distinguishable from E 
| Oryptogramme crispa and Pellea gracilis by the pubescent stipe and rhachis; bati it has 
