THE FERNS OF NORTH-WESTERN INDIA. n 



membranous, stipes very short. I have never seen stipes as long as the fronds 

 such as Clarke speaks of ; but some of Duthie's from Kashmir are fths of the 

 total length, and some of these have fronds J in. br., and look like narrow P. 

 simplex. If the nature of the scales is the main specific character, all these 

 various forms are one species, 



Blanford nude a particular study of this fern at Simla, where it is very abun- 

 dant on Jako mountain, and he was at first inclined to make two varieties besides 

 the type ; but in his finally printed list he gave that up. He says P. clath- 

 ratum is quite distinct from both P. lineare and P. simplex, though it often 

 grows with the last-mentioned , which it much resembles in texture and mode of 

 growth. '' The sori," he says, '* are small, frequently oblong, of a bright orange 



colour, and sometimes confluent The stipes are generally 



shorter, and the fronds longer and more linear than in the specimen figured by 

 Clarke." The sori are sometimes very large, e.g., in a specimen of MacLeod's 

 from Kashmir they are one-eighth of an inch in the largest diameter, and more 

 than one-quarter the width of the frond : these are full of scales. This species 

 is not got in Mussooree, where both P. lineare and P. simplex are very 

 common. 



P. alberti, Kegel— Descr. PI. nov., No. XVIII, 122, from Turkestan, is 

 exactly the same as a small form, called P. clathratum, from the Himalaya at 

 high altitudes, which might perhaps be separated and put under P. alberti. 



28. P. membranaceum, Don, 0., P. grandijolium, Wall. ; Syn. Fil. 

 360 ; P. membranaceum, Don, C. R. 560. Pleopeltis membranaceum, Don, 

 Bedd. II. B. 355. 



Kashmir : Tawi Yj. 4-5000', Trotter. 



Punjab : Chamba State— Chenab Vy. 5000', McDonell : "not common 1 ' ; Kangra 

 Vy. Dist. — fide Trotter ; Simla Reg.— Simla, common. 



N.-W. P. : D. D. Dist.— in the Dun : Nalota Khala and elsewhere at the foot of 

 the Himalaya, 2500' and upwards ; Mussooree 5-7000', on moist rocks, and trunks of 

 trees, common ; T. Qarh. Aglar Vy. 4-5000', Duthie ; B. Garh.— Mrs. Fisher ; 

 Knmaun— Mohargiri 6500', S. & W. ; NainiTa] 6500', on rocks by the Lake, Hope 1861 : 

 not seen there in 1890 and 1894 ; elsewhere 25-5000', widely distributed. 



Dist rib.— Asia : N. Ind. CHim.) Sikkim and Bhotan ; Assam— Khasia Dist. 2-5000' : 

 very common j Bengal— Parasnath Mt. 3000', Clarke. S. Ind.— E. & W. MtB., 2-5000'. 

 Ceylon. Tonkin. W. China— Yunnan, Henry. Philippines. 



Usually large ; but I have a fertile frond gathered in Kumaun, only 5 inches 

 high, including the short stipes. All the specimens I possess seem to belong to 

 Wallich's P.. graadifolium, which is said to have sori smaller, and irregularly 

 scattered. 



29. P. heterocarpum, Bl. (non Mett.) ; 0,, P. Zippellii, Bl,, Syn. Fil. 

 360 ; P. Zvpellii, C. R. 561. Pleopeltis Zippellii, Bl., Bedd. H. B. 357. 



Punjab : Chamba— Dalhousie, Col. Dyas,/d<! Bedd. in H. B. 



