MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 561 
The whole North-Indian material is very constant to Mettenius’s type, the venation 
. of which is carefully described by Sir W.J. Hooker: the sori tend to be 6 in each areola 
between the secondary veins. The Peninsula plant, well figured by Bedd. (Ferns South. 
Ind. t. 177), is much smaller and narrower than the North-Indian plant, and has the 
secondary veins much less distinct; but it may not be specifically separable. 
51. P. Stream, Blume, Fl. Jav. Fil. 172, t. 80. Rhizome slender, creeping shortly, 
with lanceolate acute scales; fronds lincar-lanceolate, narrowed gradually at the 
. base into a short stipe, coriaceous; lanceolate subobtuse scales often continued up 
the rhachis, and on the lower part of the rhachis beneath ; secondary veins (be- 
tween the primary parallel veins) obscure, but, so far as they can be distinguished, 
the sori are on them in two rows between the primary yeins.—Mett. Farngait. 
Polypod. 115; Hook. Sp. Fil v. 72. P. oxyphyllum, Kunze, in Bot. Zeit. vi. 116. 
P. heterocarpum, Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 360, not of Blume nor of Mett, Pleopeltis 
heterocarpa, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 319. 
Sikkim and Bhotan, alt. 2000-6000 feet, common. Khasia, alt. 2000-4000 feet, fre- 
quent.—Distrib. Java, Philippines, Ceylon. 
P. heterocarpum, Blume, Fl. Jav. Fil. t. 75, is P. hemionitideum, Wall., as is apparent 
at a glance from the sudden contraction of the frond at the base into a narrowly winged 
stipe: besides this, the more open venation, the confluent sori, the thick rhizome, all 
prove it to be P. hemionitideum. Blume’s figure of P. Zippellii shows very accurately 
the venation of the Himalayan plant. As regards the Chinese examples, with the sori 
in many rows between the primary veins, referred to P. Zippellii at Kew, I do not think 
they belong. : 
59. P. puxcratum, Swartz, in Schrad. Journ: 1800, ii. 21, not of Syn. Fil. 41, nor of 
Thunb. Rhizome stout, short-creeping, with lanceolate scales; fronds linear, 
narrowed at the base gradually; stipe short or none; texture coriaceous, veins 
obscure ; sori very many, scattered closely over nearly the whole lower surface.— 
P. irioides, Lamk. Encycl. v. 513; Blume, Fl. Jav. Fil. 169, t. 77; Hk. & Grev. Ic. 
Fil t. 125; Mett. Fil. Hort. Lips. 38, t. 20. fig. 10; Hook. Sp. Fil. v. 67, Fil. Exot. 
t.4; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 360; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 771. P. glabrum, Roxb. ; 
Wall. Cat. 281; in Cale. Journ. Nat. Hist. iv. 482, t. 28. P. polycephalum, 
Wall. Cat. 273. Aspidium microcarpon, Blume, Enum. Pl. Jav. Fil. 142. Micro- 
" sorium irregulare, Link ; Fée, Gen. Fil. t. 208. fig. 3. Phymatodes polycarpa, Presl, 
Tent. Pterid. 198, t. 8. fig. 19. Pleopeltis irioides, Carr. in Fl. Viti. 367; Bedd. 
Ferns South. Ind. t. 178. P. punctata, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. Suppl. p. 22. Acro- 
stichum punctatum, Linn. Sp. Pl. 1524. 
Bengal Plain, abundant; from the sea-face of the Soonderbun; extending but little 
way up the mountains, rarely at 2000-3000 feet alt.—Distrib. South India, Ceylon, 
Burma, Malaya, China, North Australia, Polynesia, Southern and Central Africa with 
the islands to the Guinea coast. 
53. P. HEMIONITIDEUM, Wall. Cat. 284. Rhizome creeping shortly, with lanceolate 
a | Ae? | 
