522 MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 
firm, without scales; secondary pinne in the fertile frond oblong, obtuse, their 
surface almost completely covered by the large sori with persistent involucres.— 
Lastrea cochleata, Bedd. Ferns South. Ind. t. 115. ege E Wall. 
Cat. 395. 4. Avana, Wall. Cat. 1034. 
Dry forests at the foot of the hills, alt. 0—4000 feet, very common ` from Oudh to Assam, 
Khasia and Chittagong. Chota Nagpore; Parasnath, alt. 3000 feet, C. B. Clarke.— 
Distrib. Ava, Malay Peninsula. Mts. of South India. 
This fern has been confused with N. Filix- Mas, var. intermedia, Bedd., and var. Schim- 
periana, Hochst. It resembles that fern in having large involucres. Its especial 
character is its strong dimorphism ; it is worthy, perhaps, generic rank. . N. lacerum, Hk. 
& Baker, Syn. Fil. 273, may be the immediate ancestor of N. cochleatum. Fragments of 
the fertile frond are easily separated from N. Filix-Mas, var. Schimperiana, by the very 
firm, glabrous, round rhachis, a character noticed by Don. Beddome (in Ferns Brit. Ind. 
Suppl. p. 17) speaks of having found forms intermediate between N. cochleatum and N. 
Filiz-Mas, var. elongatum; there are none such at Kew, nor have I ever met such in 
India.—There are examples of W. cochleatum marked as collected at 7000 feet alt. even 
in Kumaon; but the fern is confused with N. Filiz- Mas, var. Schimperiana, and I very 
strongly suspect that collectors have mixed the two often before distribution: I altogether 
doubt high-level localities assigned N. cocheatum. 
*** Frond nearly or quite 2-pinnate, ultimate segments rounded.— High-level ferns 
with abundant reddish or blackish scales. 
16. N. Brunonianum, Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. 113, t. 251. Main rhachis beneath blackish 
chestnut, with many lanceolate-linear black-chestnut scales, otherwise glabrous; 
pinnz pinnatifid or scarcely pinnate, often subobtuse; sori marginal or near the 
sinus, not along the midrib of the secondary pinns;.—Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 274. 
Aspidium Brunonianum, Wall. Cat. 344; Mett. Farngatt. Pheg. & Asp. 54. Lastrea 
Brunoniana, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 37. 
Himalaya, alt. 11,000-16,000 feet; from Kashmir to Bhotan, plentiful. 
l7. N. pARBIGERUM, Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. 113. Main rhachis beneath yellowish, with many 
lanceolate-linear, yellowish-red scales, and also muricate, scabrous, or hairy; secon- 
dary pinne usually distinct, sometimes subpinnatifid; sori approximate to their 
midrib.— N. Falconeri, Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. 123, t. 254. N. barbigerum and Falconeri, 
Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 274, 277. Lastrea barbigera and Falconeri, Bedd. Ferns 
Brit. Ind. tt. 227, 241. 
. Himalaya, alt. 11,000-15,000 feet ; from Kashmir to Sikkim, plentiful. 
_ IJ. Scott, at Calcutta, strongly suspected that N. barbigerum and Falconeri were the same 
fern; Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. Suppl. p. 17 arrives at the same conclusion, after seeing 
the solitary frond on which Sir W. J. Hooker founded his d, Falconeri ; the two are to me 
identical. | 
