MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. KEE 
Lepisorus. The sori in age are often very large, deep sunk, finally splitting out of the 
frond altogether, whence the name P. excavatum. The fronds are usually very narrow, 
and the sori then get nearer the margin than the main rhachis; this is P. loriforme, Wall. 
When the fronds are picked in late autumn or winter, the venation is conspicuous ; this 
is P. phlebodes, Kunze. None of these are more than trifling varieties; the following 
are more curious. 
Var. 1. steniste. Fronds 11 by + in.; sori large, appearing as projections on the 
margin. | 
Sikkim, alt. 10,000 feet.—The dimensions, 11 by $ in. are those of the narrowest 
example I have collected; it looks very distinct from P. lineare, but is connected by 
intermediates with P. loriforme, Wall. The species P. stenophyllum, Blume (Pleopeltis, 
Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 234), must come in between my var. steniste and P. lineare 
type. ' 
Var. 2. polymorpha. Barren fronds copiously pinnatifid ; lobes ovate and linear, 4-2 in. 
deep, 10-15 on each margin of the frond. ' 
Khasia, Nunklow, C. .B. Clarke. 
45. P. czATHRATUM, C. B. Clarke. Rhizome short-creeping, with ovate acute, often 
hair-pointed scales; fronds small, stipe often as long as the frond; sori mixed with 
sessile irregularly peltate and lacerate clathrate scales. 
Kashmir; Pir Pinjul, alt. 11,000-12,000 feet, C. B. Clarke. Khurum Valley, alt. 
11,000 feet, Dr. Aitchison. 
- This may be an alpine var. of P. lineare; but the scales are peculiar, closely resembling 
4liose from the rhizome in uaspleniwm, the veins being a rich black-chestnut colour. 
'The texture is thin, the venation in the young healthy fronds much more conspicuous 
than in P. lineare, the stipes unusually long. (Pl. LXXXII. fig. 1.) 
46. P. ANGUsTATUM, Swartz; Hook. Sp. Fil. 43. Fronds large, lanceolate-linear, cori- 
áceous, densely stellate-tomentose beneath; sori ultimately oblong, mixed with 
stalked peltate fimbriate scales —Schk. Krypt. Gew. t. 8, c; Hk. & Baker, Syn. 
Fil 356. P. spherocephalum, Wall. Cat. 272; Mett Farngatt. Polypod. 122. 
P. coriaceum, Roxb. in Cale. Journ. Nat. Hist. iv. 481. Niphobolus angustatus, 
. Hook. Garden Ferns, t. 20;. Bedd. Ferns South. Ind. t. 185. N. spherocephalus, 
- Hk. & Grev. Ic. Fil. it. 94. N. macrocarpus, Hk. & Am. Bot. Beech. Voy. 74, 
uU ID à; 
South India, Malacca, Malaya, North Australia, Polynesia, South Chia 
Var. depauperata. Fronds 5 in., with scattered, sessile, peltate, fimbriate scales beneath, 
but no hairs; sori large, oblong, without stalked scales. 
Assam, Jenkins.—The scrap on the faith of which P. angustatum is. said to grow in 
North India was determined by Sir W. J. Hooker. The rhizome is wiry, far thinner 
than in P. angustatum ; nor does it carry the characteristic scales of P. angustatum. There 
are on it two fronds, each 5 in. long, the fertile one + in. broad, the barren one 4 in. 
SECOND SERIES.— BOTANY, VOL. I. 4G 
