MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 521 
plant) is indeed compound, but the sori are large, the rhachis scaly. This plant has also 
been called in India N. maderense, Lowe; but it does not resemble that plant except in 
being a large-fruited var. of N. Pilir-Mas. The less compound forms of var. Schimperiana 
run near var. 1. panda. 
Var. 7. marginata (Pl. LXXI.), Wall. Cat. 891, mainly, but not type sheet. Frond large, 
oblong- or ovate-lanceolate, not narrowed at the base, 2-3-pinnate ; lowest pinne often 
12 in., faleate ; main and partial rhachises nearly free from scales; tertiary pinnæ 
oblong, obtuse, serrate or pinnatifid sometimes nearly to the midrib; texture, 
venation, and sori nearly as in N. Filix-Mas. 
Himalaya, alt. 6000-9000 feet, from Bhotan to Kumaon, common in Sikkim. Khasia, 
alt. 5000 feet.—This fern is called var. elongatum in the Kew bundles and also by Indian 
collectors; but I do not see that it is much like N. elongatum, Hk. & Grev. Ic. Fil. 
t. 234 (Aspidium, Milde, Fil. Europ. 124), which is founded on a Macaronesian fern 
that seems to me much more like var. khasiana. The so-called Indian elongata is 
also attributed to the North-west Himalaya; but the specimens so marked by Mr. Baker 
are marked Aspidium rigidum, Swartz, B. australe by Mettenius: they appear to me 
absolutely identical with common English forms of JN. remotum, Hook.; but I do not ` 
say Mr. Baker is wrong in thinking this undistinguishable from 4. marginatwm, 
Wall. Another plant frequently collected in Khasia has the ultimate segments wide 
apart with more serrate margin; this runs very near the South-Indian plant Lastrea 
elongata, Bedd. Ferns South. Ind. t. 112, which, again, Mettenius has marked Aspidiwm 
canariense, A. Braun. . 
l4. N. ovowroroma, Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. (2nd ed.) 498, excl. the fig. of Bedd. cited 
S and the var. nidus. Stipe 6 in., soft, thick, chestnut-coloured, with scattered, 
deciduous, lax, lanceolate, black pales; frond 10 by 6-8 in., oblong-lanceolate, 
truncate at the base; pinnæ often widened at the base, 2-pinnate ; secondary pinnæ 
elliptic-oblong, obtuse, pinnatifid (sometimes deeply); segments rounded, sharply 
serrate; texture thin, becoming hyaline towards the margin, venation subflabellate ; 
involucre fimbriate.— Lasirea Filix-Mas, var. odontoloma, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. 
Suppl. 17, t. 373. 
Himalaya, from Chumba to Bhotan, alt. 11,000-16,000 feet ; common. : 
“A most lovely fern. I have some difficulty in naming it: Beddome’s original L. odon- 
toloma, Ferns South. Ind. t. 114, is not very near the Himalayan plant, and Beddome 
has withdrawn that plate (in his Suppl. p. 17). The plate in Suppl. t. 373 is the true 
plant, but drawn from a high-level scrap: my description above represents the fairly 
developed average frond; I have examples much larger still. Ido not think it runs 
into any form of N. Filix-Mas ; the venation is very unlike the forked venation of N. 
Filiv-Mas. Though this fern is so common and I have collected 40 sheets of specimens 
from Chumba to Bhotan, I find only scattered scraps in the Kew Herbarium. 
15. N. COCHLEATUM, Don, Prodr. Fl. Nep. 6. Fertile and barren fronds distinctly 
dissimilar, though barren fronds partially fruit-bearing are not rare; main rhachis 
: KE 
