MR. €. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA: 469 
Sect. III. Campteria. Veins of the ultimate pinnæ inarching only near 
the base, at least occasionally. | 
15. P. BrauRITA, Linn. Sp. Pl. 1534. Frond once pinnate; pinns several, pinnatifid 
nearly to the midrib, the lowest nearly always bipartite, sometimes with 2-3 
descending pinnz from the lower margin.—Hk. & Grev. Ie. Fil. t.142?; Hook. Sp. 
Fil. ii. 203; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 164. P. nemoralis, Willd.; Blume, Enum. Pl. 
Jav. Fil. 210; Wall. Cat. 106. Campteria biaurita, Hk. & Bauer, Gen. Fil. t. 65 a; 
Bedd. Ferns South. Ind. t. 44. C. Rottleriana, Presl, Tent. Dier. 147, t 8 
fig. 26. 
. From Gurwhal to Bhotan and Khasia, alt. 0-6000 feet; extending over the plains 
to Dacca, Pubna, &c. Parasnath, alt. 4400 feet.— Distrib. Deccan and Ceylon; Malay 
Peninsula and Islands, China ; tropical Africa and America. 
This fern differs from P. quadriaurita only in having some of the veins arched. Some 
fronds exhibit very few arched veins; and in fronds picked from the same rhizome some 
will exhibit a few arched veins, others none at all. Such plants are called P. nemoralis, 
Willd. (see Agardh, Recens. Gen. Pter. 25; Hk. & Bauer, Gen. Fil. t. 64a). The 
form here considered as the type is the one parallel to that taken as the type form of 
P. quadriaurita above, and has the ultimate segments j-1 in. long, and is the same 
figured by Beddome. It is not the commonest form in North India, where a larger 
form (corresponding closely to that called var. major of P. quadriaurita above) is more 
common, with ultimate segments }-1 in. From this we pass without any good 
break into Pe | 
Var. geminata, Wall. Cat. 2180. Ultimate segments 14 in., or even more.—Agardh, Recens. 
Gen. Pter. 31.  Campteria anamallayensis, Bedd. Ferns South. Ind. t. 45. 
This form is closely parallel to P. longipinnula above, and apparently equally entitled 
to specific rank ; but the great mass of the North-Indian forms belong to the var. major 
intermediate between P. biaurita and P. anamallayensis, and, so far as I can see, bridge 
over the space between these two completely. The veins in highly developed examples 
of the var. geminata anastomose more than once, tending to sect. Litobrochia.—There 
remains the question whether the series of forms of P. biaurita is other than the 
parallel series above named P. quadriaurita (with varieties) and P. longipinnula. The 
two series extend over the same area. Against their being one, I can offer only three 
weak reasons (so far as the North-Indian plants are concerned) :—~Ist. P. biaurita fre- 
quently produces a large bud, distant about j the length of the frond from the top of 
the main rhachis; I have never seen such a bud in P. quadriaurita: 2nd. The larger 
forms of P. quadriaurita (viz. var. major and P. longipinnula) have the lowest pinnæ 
very generally undivided; the large forms of P. biaurita have the lowest pinnz nearly 
always bipartite, and very frequently with several descending pinnæ: 3rd. The rhizome 
of P. biaurita has a tendency to creep and to form beds of the plant. 
16. P. WALLICHIANA, Agardh, Recens. Gen. Pter. 69. Frond subpedately divided into 
7-5-3 pinne ; pinne pinnate; secondary pinne pinnatifid nearly to the rhachis ; 
