490 MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 
pinne oblong, lobed hardly halfway to the midrib; sori linear-oblong, hardly more 
curved when ripe, rarely diplazioid.— 4. tenuifrons, Wall. Cat. 206 (part only of 
type sheet). Athyrium Clarkei, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. Suppl. ii. t. 360. Allan- 
todia denticulata, Wall. sub Wall. Cat. 206. 
Nepaul, Wallich. Sikkim, T. Thomson; Kulhait Valley, alt. 6000—7000 feet, in the 
sandy swamp at the foot of the steep ascent to Singalelah, in quantity, JP. S. Atkinson 
and C. B. Clarke. 
Rhizome stout, tufted, standing 2 in. out of the wet sand, with a cluster of stipes at 
the top, radiating round and rooting in a circle, at à radius of about 2 feet from the. 
central rhizome: the subterminal rooting-bud seems always present in well-developed 
fronds ; rarely there are two rooting-buds. Frond tapering at both ends, but not decur- 
rent at the base nor with auricles. Pinne 1-3 in., green, glabrous, or the rhachis 
beneath densely pubescent, subvillous; the rhachis above often setulose; a solitary 
pinna in texture, cutting, and sori would be supposed to belong to A. nigripes, of which 
this may be a local accidental form. The fern is often setulose on the upper surface, as 
is typical A. nigripes. The Kumaon plants referred to 4. tenuifrons, Wall., are setulose 
on the upper surface, and are A. sírigillosum, Moore in Lowe's Ferns, v. 36; but they are 
broadly lanceolate, without any terminal bud, and therefore 4. nigripes for me; but I 
fear the two species coalesce at this point. 
33. A. NIGRIPES, Mett. Farngatt. Aspl. 195. Stipe firm, round, glabrous; frond 8-30 
in., oblong-lanceolate, not tapering at the base, 2-pinnate, herbaceous or coria- 
ceous, but not plicate-striate beneath; secondary pinnules oblong or elliptic, more 
or less lobed or pinnatifid, serrate not spinulose; sori linear-oblong, slightly curved, 
in two oblique rows towards the midrib of the pinna; involucres persistent.—Hook. 
Sp. Fil. iii. 222; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 227. 4. costale, Blume,Enum. Pl. Jav. Fil. 
170, not of Swartz. ` AJ. spectabile, Wall. Cat. 237. A. gymnogrammoides, Klotzsch ; 
Mett. Farngatt. Aspl. 193, t. 6. figs. 19, 14; Hook. Sp. Fil iii. 227. Athyrium 
nigripes, Bedd. Ferns South. Ind.t. 157. .4. gymnogrammoides, Bedd. Ferns South. 
Ind. t. 156. Allantodia incisa, Wall. sub Wall. Cat. 231. 
ch NDA alt. 3000—11,000 feet; from Kashmir to Bhotan, very common. Khasia, 
alt. 2000-6000, very common.—Distrib. Mts. of South India and Ceylon, Malay Penin- 
sula and Islands, China. 
. Stipes tufted; the caudex often stout, 2-6 in. high out of the ground. The Himalayan 
series thus named is very uniform in character, and is represented well by Bedd. Ferns 
South. Ind. t. 157. This differs from A. macrocarpum by the nearly straight involucres, 
from A. oxyphyllum by the permanent involucres. A. gymnogrammoides, Klotzsch, is a 
var. with large secondary pinne 14 in. long; .4. gymnogrammoides, Bedd. Ferns 
South. Ind. t. 156, is 3-pinnate ; but these are doubtless all one species. Some of the high 
alpine forms are very small, the whole frond but 3-8 in. high, delicate in texture, the 
secondary pinnæ narrow, linear-oblong. Other forms are triangular, the lowest E of 
: Lies being the broadest. More marked varieties are 
