MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 551 
Dividing ridge between Sikkim and Nepaul, and north to Jongri, alt. 11,000-13,000 
feet ; in great quantity. 
23. P. nACcHNOPUS, Wall. Cat. 310, chiefly. Rhizome (slenderer than in P. amenum) 
densely clothed with hair-pointed brown-black scales, spreading from small bases ; 
base of the rhachis often with a few similar scales ; lowest pinne usually (not 
always) quite free; costal arches of the main rhachis usually broken, at least in the 
lower half of the frond; main rhachis above pubescent.—Hook. Sp. Fil. v. 25, 
2nd Cent. Ferns, t. 52; Mett. Farngatt. Polypod. 75; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 342. 
G'oniophlebiwm lachnopus, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 163. 
Himalaya, from Kashmir to Bhotan ; alt. 2000-6000 feet ` very common. Khasia, alt. 
3000-5000 feet, very common. 
Baker and Beddome carry this fern up to 11,000 feet alt., but my highest level for it is 
5600. It has been, in fact, in Herbaria hopelessly intermixed with other species; and 
Wallich's original P. lachnopus has P. microrrhizoma mixed on the same sheets. It is 
hopeless, therefore, to disentangle the synonymy completely. P. Fieldingianum, Kunze, 
is described by Mettenius (Farngatt. Polypod. 75) as very glabrous, and may be 
P. microrrhizoma; but Mettenius worked with scraps and no rhizomes, and the specimen 
he has marked with his own hand P. lachnopus is P. microrrhizoma. 
24. P. MICRORRHIZOMA, C. B. Clarke; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 2nd ed. 511. Rhizome 
slender, clothed with grey-brown ovate or lanceolate scales, not hair-pointed; base 
of the rhachis often with a few similar scales; lowest pinnæ mostly quite free; 
costal arches of the main rhachis usually broken, at least in the lower half of 
the frond; main rhachis above glabrous.— P. lachnopus, Wall. Cat. 310 as to d type 
sheet. Goniophlebium microrhizoma, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. p. 21, t. 384. 
Kashmir to Bhotan ; alt. 5000-9000 feet, very common. 
25. P. Apero, Wall. Cat. 308. Scales of the rhizome ovate-acute, short, much 
spreading ; lower pinnz distant, narrowed at the base or subsessile, rarely much 
narrower than the pinne above them.—Hook. Sp. Fil. v. 32; Hk. & Baker, Syn. 
Fil. 2nd ed. 511. Goniophlebiwm argutum, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 6. 
Himalaya, from Kashmir to Bhotan, alt. 4000-9000 feet, very common. 
Hardly separable from P. subauriculatum ; Major Henderson would prefer to unite the 
two. The lower pinne are sometimes much the narrower. "The: best distinction I make 
to be the spreading (but not caudate-acuminate) scales on the rhizome; but Mr. Baker 
says the scales are *'linear-subulate." The pinns are sometimes sessile, subdecurrent, 
sometimes subpetiolate. One of my examples has the venation unusually lax, the sori 
oblong. 
26. P. SUBAURICULATUM, Blume, Enum. Pl. Jav. Fil. 133, Fl. Jav. Fil. 177, t. 88. Scales 
of the rhizome linear-subulate, often hair-pointed ; lower pinnæ distant, widened, 
subaurieulate at the very base, rarely much narrower than the pinnz above them.— 
SECOND SERIES.—BOTANY, VOL. I. AF 
