MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 489 
that the pinna is auriculate, margin more or less toothed scarcely ever spinulose ; 
sori large; involucre little lacerate on the margin, very permanent, finally curved 
or often in appearance Nephrodioid.— Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 927. A. fallax, deci- 
piens, and Goringianum, Mett. Farngatt. Aspl. 194, 195, 198, t. 6. figs. 7-12. Aspi- 
dium macrocarpum, Blume, Enum. Pl. Jav. Fil. 162. 4. squarrosum, Wall. Cat. 856. 
Lastrea? macrocarpa, Moore, Ind. Fil.ii.95. Athyrium macrocarpum, Bedd. Ferns 
South. Ind. tt. 152, 153. 
Himalaya, from Gurwhal to Bhotan, alt. 2000-9000 feet, very common. Khasia, 
alt. 2000-6000 feet ; very common.—Distrib. Deccan and Ceylon, Malay Peninsula and 
Islands, China, Japan. 
One of the most abundant and variable of Indian ferns. The above diagnosis applies to 
the whole Kew bundle, which is very uniform in character, as Mr. Baker has sorted the 
doubtful forms between A. Filia-feemina, oxyphyllum, and fimbriatum. The fern is 
usually 2-pinnate : Beddome (Ferns South. Ind. t. 152) shows a form that is 1-pinnate, 
scarcely 2-pinnate ; Wallich’s 4. squarrosum is 2-pinnate, very nearly 3-pinnate, and there 
is, I fear, no line to be drawn between this and fimbriatum below. The frond is usually 
oblong-lanceolate; but I have collected it triangular, little longer than the breadth of 
the lowest pair of pinnæ. The involucre, as it becomes ripe, is so Nephrodioid that it is 
impossible to distinguish some examples in late fruit from Nephrodium sparsum. Beddome 
(Ferns Brit. Ind. Suppl. p. 11) refers here Nephrodiwm sparsum, var. membranaceum, 
Arn.; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. (2nd ed.) 498 ; and the only example at Kew so named is 
Asplenium macrocarpum, as has been noted on the sheet by Beddome. The Himalayan 
high-level small examples, with numerous red scales at the base of the stipe, very shining 
fronds much striate beneath when dry, and fugacious involucres, are here referred to 
A. oryphyllum. There remain in the Kew bundles now only two forms aberrant from 
the minute diagnosis above given, Viz.:— 
Var, l-pinnata. Frond linear, pinnæ numerous, subentire, slightly crenate serrate on 
the upper margin. | 
Khasia, alt. 3000—4000 feet, frequent.—This has been much confounded with Polysti- 
chum auriculatum, Swartz; but I have connecting forms among stipes on the same 
rhizome, and the young fruit is clearly Asplenium. . | 
Var. Athinsoni, Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. (ed. 2nd) 489. Frond linear; pinne il in, 
bluntly lobed about halfway to the midrib; involucres large, fimbriate on the 
margin, very little curved. 
Sikkim, alt. 7000-8000 feet.—Intermediate forms connecting this with the type are 
desired still; the var. 1-pinnata is not intermediate. Col. Beddome remarks that this 
is not a “ distinct variety.” I originally marked it a variety only, because I thought it 
indistinct. 3 
32. A. CLARKEI, W. S. Atkinson, MS. Fronds 1-3 feet, linear-lanceolate, 2-pinnate, 
.. bending over and rooting from a bud on the upper part of the um ; —— 
