612 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV11I. 



mountains ; Malay Peninsula. — America, from United States southward to 

 Brazil ; New Caledonia ; Tropical Africa. 



108. Opluoglossum reticulatum. (L.) In grassy places on the ghats, (Gray). — 

 South India, Nilgiris and Anamallays, 2,000 feet and upwards : Ceylon. 

 Newera Elya ; Himalyas, Malay Peninsula.— Malay Islands : Polynesia ; 

 Tropical America ; Africa ; Mascareen Island ; Philipines. 



109. Helmintostachys zeylanica, (L.) Southern Konkan in swampy places 

 (Gray). — South India, Western forests up to 3,000 feet ; Ceylon ; North India. 

 Bengal plains to Assam and Cachar ; Malay Peninsula. — Malay Islands ; Philip- 

 pines ; Tropical Australia ; New Caledonia. 



110. Botrychium virginianum, (L.) var. lanuginosum. Ghats, (Gray). — South 

 India, at the higher elevations on the Western mountains ; Ceylon ; North India, 

 on the Himalayas, Kumaon to Bhotan, 5,000—8,000 feet ; Khasya, 4,000—6,000 

 feet. — The typical plant in Europe, America, Japan. 



It can hardly be expected that the above list is an exhaustive one, There 

 are good reasons for assuming that in the southern parts of the Presidency 

 many a species will be discovered that up to now, has only been seen in the 

 western forests of the Madras Presidency. Also the Konkan and the Ghats 

 along their whole length might prove less poor in species when examined more 

 minutely. This will scarcely be the case with regard to Gujarat, Kathiawar, 

 Cutch, and Sind, except perhaps the mountainous region of Kathiawar. On 

 my tour in Cutch during the winter season I did not see a single species, not 

 even a dried up relic of a fern. It is, however, possible that at least one fern, 

 Adiantumcapillus veneris, may be growing there, as this species occurs even in 

 Sind. 



If we consider that the number of known species on our globe amounts to 

 3,500, we must admit that the ferns are very poorly represented in the Bom- 

 bay Presidency, forming only ^ of the vascular vegetation : and more so, if 

 we know that of all the ferns about 2,600 species belong to the Tropics. They 

 usually form a great percentage of the vegetation of vascular plants, especially 

 on islands and along the coast, e.g., in Jamaica ^, in Tahiti i, in St. Helena i. The 

 countries situated at a greater distance from the sea are poorer in species, the 

 ferns very often forming only F \ — i of the vascular flora. A considerable 

 diminution of species is observed in those territories of the tropical and warm 

 temperate region that are devoid of forest and, being exposed to a parching 

 sun and dry winds, suffer from draught for some time of the year. Such con- 

 ditions prevail in the greater part of the Bombay Presidency. Considering the 

 amount of rainfall only in the various parts of the Presidency, it is natural to 

 expect the greatest number of species in North Kanara, the Southern Ghats, 

 and in places with climatic conditions similar to those observed in Mahableshwar, 

 As a matter of fact three-fourths of all the species known in the Presidency 

 have been found in North Kanara, and a good many of them find, as far as 

 Bombay is concerned, their northern limit in that country. Of endemic specie 

 not a single one has been discovered up to the present. 



