MR: C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN. INDIA. 565 
60. P. pRYTHROCARPUM, Mett.; Kunze, in Linnea, xxxvi. 135. Rhizome slender, wide- 
. creeping, clothed with liasdéclatecdimoni not hair-pointed scales; main rhachis and 
frond beneath more or less pubescent; pinnæ oblong, obtuse, the lowest generally 
(not always) free; costal arches of the pinnæ obscure.—Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 
2nd ed. 511. P. Atkinsoni, C. B. Clarke, MS, Goniophlebium erythrocarpum, 
Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. p. 21, t. 382. 
Sikkim ; Lachen, alt. 9000—11,000 feet, Sir J. D. Hooker ; Yakla Valley, alt. 8000 
feet, C. m Clarke. | 
61. P. tonerssruvm, Blume, Enum. Pl, Jav. Fil. 127. Frond elongate, with 8-20 
~ marrow pinne on each side ; margin entire; sori impressed, projecting through the 
upper surface. —Blume, Fl. Jav. Fil. 159, t. 68; Mett. Fil. Hort. Lips. t. 25. 
fig. 18, Farngatt, Polypod. 102, partly; Hook. Sp. Fil. v. 80, Fil. Exot. t. 22. 
P. excavatum, Roxb. in Cale. Journ. Nat. Hist. iv. 485. P. alternifolium, Wall. 
Cat. 289, var. polyphylla, Wall. Pleopeltis longissima, Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. 
t. 388. 
Assam, Gowhatty; Simons. Sylhet, Wallich. Furidpore, C. B. Clarke.—Distrib. 
Malaya, Formosa, Admiralty Islands. | | 
My examples were floating in jheels, and the other Bengal examples that have 
rhizomes were aquatic. Rhizome long, covered with lax ovate-lanceolate grey-slaty 
scarious scales. Pinne $-i in. broad. 
62. P. NIGRESCENS, Blume, Enum. Pl. Jav. Fil. 126. Pinnæ 4-8 on each side the main 
rhachis, broader than in P. longissimum, otherwise resembling it.—Blume, Fl. Jav. 
Fil. 161, t. 70; Hook. Sp. Fil. v. 81; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 364; Benth. Fl. 
Austral. vii. 769. P. longissimum, Mett. Farngatt. Polypod. 102, partly. P. alterni- 
folium, Wall. Cat. 289, type. Pleopeltis longissima, Bedd. Ferns South. Ind. t. 176. 
P. nigrescens, Carr. in Fl. Viti. 368; Bedd. Ferns Brit, Ind. Suppl. p. 23. 
- Sylhet, Wallich.—Distrib. Ceylon, Malay Peninsula and Islands, Polynesia. 
Cultivators find this fern easily distinguishable from the preceding, but Mettenius 
thought it not distinct. Beddome remarks that there is no difference, except that the 
pinne of P. nigrescens are fewer and broader. The rhizome and sori are closely alike 
and peculiar; the venation is the same, except that in.the broader pinne there is room 
for more rows of looped veins outside the sori.—Lastly, whether it be held a form or a 
species, I greatly doubt its being native in North India. The only example is one sheet 
of Wallich’s Cat. No. 289. It is clear that before issuing his No. 289, Wallich mixed 
his P.. longissimum from Sylhet with his P. nigrescens from Malacca, and issued all as 
P. alternifolium, Wall, . No one else can find P. nigrescens in Bengal.—In Wallich's own 
set, I find that the P. longissimum is marked from gd the P. nigrescens from Singa- 
pore: I have little doubt that this is correct, 
Ge. P. DILATATUM, Wall. Cat. 295. Rhizome stout, somewhat widely creeping, clothed 
with ovate-lanceolate lax scarious grey-slaty scales; frond large, with many close 
