562 MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 
spreading scales; frond linear-lanceolate, decurrent at base on the winged stipe; 
texture membranous, veins prominent, areolation much less close than in P. Zippellii ; 
sori (nearly always some of them) confluent into oblong large patches in ripe fruit. 
—Mett. Farngatt. Polypod. 112; Hook. Sp. Fil. v. 73; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 
360. P. heterocarpum, Blume, Fl. Jav. Fil. 167, t. 75, not of Baker. P. Zollin- 
gerianum, Kunze; Mett, Farngatt. Polypod. 118, t. 3. fig. 51. Selliguiea hemio- 
nitidea, Pres], Tent. Pterid. t. 9. fig. 17. Pleopeltis hemionitidea, Bedd. Ferns South. 
Ind. t. 182. 
Himalaya, alt. 2000-7000 feet; from Nepaul to Bhotan, very common. Khasia, 
alt. 2000-5000 feet, common. Chittagong Hills, alt. 1000 feet, C. B. Clarke.—Distrib. 
South India, Malaya, China. 
This fern is often (but by no means always) spathulate, being suddenly uiu into 
a long winged stipe. It is easily known from P. Zippellii (with which the synonymy 
has been mixed) by the prominent secondary venation and the confluent sori. The 
rhizome is usually (but not always) stouter. 
54. P. PTEROPUS, Blume, FL. Jav. Fil. 168, t. 76. Rhizome slender, creeping; stipe and 
main rhachis beneath pubescent-squamose ; frond often deeply divided into 8 narrow 
lanceolate lobes; simple and forked fronds are also frequent, 4—5-lobed fronds rare ; 
texture herbaceous; sori small, scattered irregularly.—Mett. Farngatt. Polypod. 
104, t. 1. figs. 36, 37; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 362.. P. tridactylon, Wall. Cat. 315 ; 
Hk. & Grev. Ic. Fil. t. 209; Mett. Farngatt. Polypod. 104, t. 1. figs. 39, 40; Hook. 
Sp. Fil. v. 75. Pleopeltis tridactyla, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 11, Ferns South. 
Ind. t. 179. 
Sikkim and Bhotan, alt. 1000—4000 feet; common. Khasia; alt. 0—4000 feet, common ; 
extending into the plains in Mymensingh. Chittagong, alt. 0-1000 feet, common.— 
Distrib. South India, Ceylon, Burma, Malaya, South China. | 
In wet sand by running streams. In the upper levels it is often small, with fronds 
mostly simple as figured by Beddome (Ferns South. Ind.t.179). Inthe plains itis much 
larger, my Chittagong plants being larger even than Blume's picture. The Java speci- 
mens are more glabrous and firmer in texture than the Indian examples, which are very 
green, and often minutely pubescent. | 
** Fronds deeply pinnatifid ; but those from weak rhizomes are in several species occa- 
sionally trifid, in P. hastatum and ebenipes sometimes simple. (Sori large, in a 
single row on each side the rhachis of the lobes in all the Indian species PME 
P. dilatatum.) 
55. P. HASTATUM, Thunb. Fl. Jap. 335, Ic. Fl. Jap. iii. t. 10. Rhizome stout, covered 
with spreading lanceolate-linear yellow or reddish scales, creeping not widely ; stipes 
long, glabrous, as is the base of the main rhachis beneath; frond narrowed to the. 
Ze glabrous, firm in texture, margin entire.—Kunze, Farnkr. Schk. Suppl. t. 83; 
Mett. Farngatt. Polypod. 106, t. 1. fig. 18; Hook. Sp. Fil. v. oe Hk & ge eet 
Fil. 301. : cx odes | i | 
ve "eg 
