544. MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 
5. P. PHEGOPTERIS, Linn. Sp. Pl 1550. Rhizome slender, creeping; stipe with large 
lanceolate yellow-brown scales, near its base; lowest pinne as long, or nearly as 
long, as any above them ; main rhachis beneath with small ovate scales; pinne cut 
down nearly to the main rhachis, more or less pilose on both surfaces; lobes 
oblong, scarcely acute, entire or crenate; sori near their margins.—Schk. Krypt. 
Gew. t. 20; Engl. Bot. t. 2224; Hook. Brit. Ferns, t. 3, Sp. Fil. iv. 245; Hk. & 
Baker, Syn. Fil. 308. Phegopteris vulgaris, Mett. Fil. Hort. Lips. 83. P. polypo- 
dioides, Fée; Milde, Fil. Europ. 100. 
Kashmir; above Sonamurg, alt. 11,000 feet, H C. Levinge.—Distrib. North Europe, 
Asia, and America; Caucasus, J. apan. 
As to Polypodium Thelypteris, Engl. Bot. t. 1018, Sir W. J. Hooker and Newman 
hold it to be P. Phegopteris; Milde quotes it (Fil. Europ. 100) as Phegopteris polypo- 
dioides, and again (Fil. Europ. 117) as Aspidiwm Thelypteris. Y have above (under 
Nephrodium Thelypteris) given my grounds for believing Engl. Bot. t. 1018 to be what 
Sir J. E. Smith intended it. 
6. P. pisrans, Don, Prodr. Fl. Nep. 2. Stipes tufted, squamose near the base; frond 
elongate, the lower pinnæ reduced distant ; primary rhachises villous or puberulous 
beneath; pinns cut down nearly to the midrib; lobes oblong, entire or crenate. 
—Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 308. D paludoswum, Blume, Fl. Jav. Fil. 192, t. 90; 
Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. 244; Bedd. Ferns South. Ind. t. 168. P. longipes, Wall. Cat. 
316. P. Griffithii, Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. 236.  Aspidium paludosum, Blume, Enum. 
Pl. Jav. 168. 
From Kashmir to Bhotan, alt. 3000-8000 feet ; very common. Khasia; alt. 3000-5000 
feet, very common.—Distrib. South India, Ceylon, Malaya. 
Very difficult to distinguish from Gymnogramme aurita, which has ovate rather than 
oblong lobes, and oblong rather than orbicular sori; the rhizome is rarely present in 
herbaria. The following varieties, though differing considerably in cutting, are united 
with the type by intermediates. 
Var. 1. adnata, (sp.) Wall. Cat. 328. Frond broadly lanceolate, bipinnate; secondary 
pinnz crenate or subpinnatifid.— P. brunneum, Wall. Cat. 383. Nephrodium micro- 
stegium, Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. 119, t. 250. Lastrea microstegia, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. 
t. 39. 
Extends nearly over the whole area of P. distans type.—Sir W. J. Hooker’s speci- 
men, from which his figure t. 250 was drawn, is a very common form of P. distans ; 
but I cannot help suspecting that Sir W. J. H. must have mixed with it the fern above 
described as JVephrodium Boryanum, var. microstegioides, which is the plant that NN 
Bengal was always supposed to be the true Nephrodiwm microstegium. 
Var. 2. glabrata. Frond large, long lanceolate; main rhachis mue black ; partial 
rhachises glabrous beneath. 
a) alt. 10 000-12,000, m. S. Atkinson and C. B. Ohare 
