518 MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 
long hairs; frond lanceolate, not decurrent on the stipe; secondary pinne oblong 
very obtuse, entire, with the texture and veins of N. Filiz-Mas, destitute of fibrillæ 
and hairs; sori often collected towards their extremities ; involucres firm, many 
strictly aspidioid.—Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 271. Aspidium apiciflorum, Wall. Cat. 
945; Mett. Farngatt. Pheg. & Asp. 54. Lastrea apiciflora, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. 
t. 40. | 
. From Nepaul to Bhotan, alt. 7500—11,000 feet; abundant. 
The sori are sometimes restricted to the apex of the segments, but are more often 
scattered, and in many specimens the sori are near the base of the lobes, none at the 
apex. ‘The species nevertheless appears a good one, being remarkably free from fibrillze 
and hairs, though with many scales; and the involucres far less nephrodioid than in any 
varieties of N. Filix-Mas.- The fronds vary in size from 4 feet at 7500 feet alt. to 5 in. at 
11,000 feet. 
Var. Nidus. Tufts very circular ; sori usually scattered, but sometimes showing a ten- 
dency to be apicifloral, segments somewhat undulate erenate.—Hk. & Baker, Syn. 
Fil. (2nd ed.) 498 ; Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. Suppl. 17, t. 372. Aspidiwm adnatum, 
Blume, Enum. Pl. Jav. Fil. 162. 
Sikkim, alt. 9000—12,000 feet, abundant. Java.—W. S. Atkinson and Thwaites main- 
tained from the first collection of this fern that it was a var. of ! N. apiciflorum. Thwaites 
wrote to me “scarcely a var.;" Beddome, however, makes it a var. of N. Filiz-Mas, 
Baker of N. odontoloma. Ihave not a shadow of a doubt that Thwaites and W. S.. 
Atkinson are right. My material is very large, and I have walked through the fern 
for many years. 
11. N. Cant, Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. (2nd ed.) 497. Fronds forming a circular tuft, 
narrow-lanceolate, tapering much at the base so that there is hardly any stipe; 
main rhachis beneath with many linear scales, but scarcely fibrillose or hairy ; secon- 
dary pinn oblong, entire, with the texture and veins of N. Piliz-Mas, destitute of 
fibrillze and hairs, the obtuse apex with a distinct hyaline margin.—Lastrea Filis- 
Mas, var. Clarkei, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. Suppl. 17, t. 371. L. fusiformis, W. S. 
Atkinson, MS. 
Sikkim, alt. 9000—11,000 feet; east, west, and north. 
Varies from 5 in. to 3 feet. Tolerably distinct from N. F'iliz-Mas by the very tapering 
base of the frond and the hyaline entire margin to the apex of the segments. It runs 
near N. patentissimum, Wall., var. Jibrillosa, which differs by having the surface of the 
segments beneath fibrillose, their apex serrate not T 
12. N.svgMATICUM, Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 272. Frond large, lanceolate, glabrous or 
nearly so, l-pinnate; pinnæ cut down 4 to # the way to the midrib; segments 
. elongate, crenate or subentire, a small ENN tooth in the sinus between each two 
. segments; sori small or medium-sized.— N. spectabile, Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. 115. N. 
Ec cutem. Griff. in Herb. GEN syrmaticum, Willd. "mes Bn We 237. 4. geo EF 
