MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 509 
species with terminal or subterminal sori is truly polystichoid.—Mr. Bentham has 
united Aspidium and Nephrodiwn of Baker; but when this is done the large series 
has to be divided into sections somehow. I feel no doubt that Polystichum Thomsoni, 
Bedd., and Lastrea gracilis, Bedd., are one species, though it may be an open question 
in what genus it is to be placed. 
7. A. ACULEATUM, Swartz in Schrad. Journ. ii. 37. Frond large, lanceolate, bipinnate, 
coriaceous, not attenuated at the base ; stipe paleaceous or fibrillose, firm; segments 
oblong, unequal at the base, lower margin excised, upper often auriculate; margin 
bristly or spinulose, not serrated into small lanceolate teeth.—Schk. Krypt. Gew. 
t. 39; Engl. Bot. t. 1662 ; Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. 18, Brit. Ferns, tt. 10, 11, 12; Milde, 
Fil. Europ. 104; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 252; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 757. Poly- 
stichum aculeatum, Bedd. Ferns South. Ind. tt. 121, 122. Polypodium aculeatum, 
Linn. Sp. Pl. 1552. 
Himalaya and Khasia; alt. 2000—13,000 feet; very common. Chota Nagpore; Paras- 
nath, alt. 8000-4000 feet, C. B. Clarke.—Distrib. Mts. of South India and Ceylon, of 
Burma and Malaya, and throughout the globe nearly. 
A great quantity of the North-Indian examples do not differ materially from the 
European type (Hook. Brit. Ferns, t. 12); the following list of varieties comprises the 
North-Indian material that differs more or less from 4. aculeatum type. 
Var. 1. lobata, (sp.) Engl. Bot. t. 1563. Fronds narrowly lanceolate; pinnæ hardly 
pinnate, the lower secondary pinnee sessile or decurrent. 
_ Throughout the Himalaya, but much more rare than A. aculeatum type. 
Var. 2. rufo-barbata, (sp.) Wall. Cat. 369. Frond 2-pinnate, coriaceous, usually 
reddish ; stipe often densely clothed with red scales or fibrillee ; frond naked on both 
surfaces; ultimate segments rhomboidal, resembling closely the cutting of A. ilici- 
folium.—A. affine, Wall. Cat. 370; Mett, Farngatt. Pheg. & Asp. 46. A. squarrosum, 
Don, Prodr. Fl. Nep. 4; Mett. l. c. 
From Kashmir to Bhotan, common (and in the Nilgherries) ; but the type form of this 
var. isnot sent from Khasia. This var., however, graduates completely into 4. aculeatum 
type on the one side, and very nearly (P) into A. ilicifolium on the other.—d. affine, 
Wall. Cat. 370, is identical with A. rufo-barbatum, Wall. Cat. 369; Mettenius makes 
them two species; possibly he had different forms under those Wallichian numbers 
of which the duplicates are mixed. 
Var. 8. semifertilis. Base of the frond fertile, upper 3 barren. 
Sikkim.—Not very common; examples of all varieties barren at the base are frequent. 
Var. 4. mucronifolia, (sp.) Blume, Enum. Pl. Jav. Fil. 164. Fronds 3-pinnate or sub- 
9-pinnate. 
Khasia and Assam.—The secondary pinnz have the lowest segment on the upper limb 
free or nearly so. The Khasia and Javan examples are just alike, both varying from 
narrow-lanceolate to ovate-acute. 
