488 MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 
toothed. Lowest secondary pinna (i.e. lobe) of the upper edge often larger than the 
rest, so that the pinne are auriculate, and sometimes also falcate. Sori only appear 
globose when broken down: Beddome’s left-hand figure must have been from an over- 
ripe example. Sori often in two rows near the midrib of the pinna; sometimes smaller 
sori are seen added in the wa in larger examples the sori are in two rows in each 
secondary pinna. 
30. A. THELYPTEROIDES, Michx. Fl. Bor.-Àm. ii. 265. Frond 1-5 feet, linear-lanceolate, 
narrowed to both ends; pinnee numerous, deeply regularly pinnatifid; lobes broad- 
oblong, subobtuse; veins simple, parallel, each lower one often bearing an involucre, 
so that the sori appear in two close parallel rows in each lobe.—Schk. Krypt. Gew. 
t. 76 b; Mett. Farngatt. Aspl. 184; Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 229; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 
226. A. acrostichoides, Swartz, Syn. Fil. 82, 275. Diplazium thelypteroides, Bedd. 
Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 68. Athyrium thelypteroides, Desv.; Milde, Fil. Europ. 54. 
A. allantodioides, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 221; see Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil 
(2nd ed.) 489. 
Himalaya, alt. 7000—12,000 feet ` from Kashmir to Bhotan, in many places abundant. 
—Distrib. Amurland, North America; zo in Penang. 
Stipes tufted; but the rootstock is creeping in one American example. Stipe scaly at 
the base, and more or less hairy, sometimes hairy throughout the main rhachis. Frond 
sometimes suddenly narrowed at the base, leaving a stipe of 2-6 in., sometimes gradually 
decreasing to distant auricles, so that there is hardly any stipe. Pinne 8 in. (13-5 in.) 
by i-£ in., broadest at the base, tapering very gradually. Secondary pinnse (lobes) 
1-1 in., subentire, or slightly denticulate. Involucre strictly Athyrioid, i.e. it dehisces 
by a very clean eut from the outer edge; involucres usually firm, white, and permanent 
on the ripe fruit.—Both Col. Beddome's figures are unsatisfactory as to the involucre, 
which is shown in t. 68 as diplazioid, in t. 221 as though allantodioid; but the letter- 
press to t. 221 corrects that impression.— As to varieties, W. S. Atkinson obtained this 
fern in quantity in East Sikkim and Bhotan, and proposed two varieties: viz. a, frond 
small, suddenly narrowed at the base, rhachis very hairy throughout; f, frond large; 
tapering by auricles nearly to the base of the stipe, rhachis glabrous or nearly SO. 
Beddome (working over, I believe, the same material) found that these characters were 
not trustworthy, and made his new species Athyrium allantodioides on the character of 
the shortness of the sori. I have collected this fern in Kashmir, in Bhotan, and at ` 
several intermediate points; and I can make no varieties at all. The involucres are 
usually very straight-edged where they are attached to the vein even in ripe fruit; but ` 
I have collected an example in which the upper involucres appear exactly as of 
Lastrea. 
31. A. wAcROCARPUM, Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 222. Frond 6-36 in. oblong-lanceolate, 
bipinnate; secondary pinnæ 1-12 in., oblong or ovate-falcate; texture herbaceous, ` ` 
when dry not coriaceous shining plicate-striate beneath, subentire, lobed or 
ina na oig co to the rhachis, the lowest lobe on the upper side gë, bs oO , 80 PS 
