322 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



over a large surface of ground ; and it seems impossible that the 

 same species of fern can ever have habits so widely differing as those 

 I have just described. I think I may challenge fern-fanciers to produce 

 on instance of variation between such habits. It is, though there are 

 others, mainly on this ground that Mr. E. W. Trotter and I have 

 separated Poly podium (^Pheg.), late repens, Trotter MS., from P. distans, 

 Don, which has an erect caudex, and that I am now proposing Neph- 

 rodium {Laslrea) repens as a new species, distinct from Aspidium 

 ocJdhodes, Kze. {Nephrodlum proUxum^ Baker). 



Some pains have been taken to give the habitats of the species in 

 regular order from West to East,* and in sufficient detail to show the 

 distribution in India ; and the distribution in other parts of the world 

 has been carefully arranged by continents, which is not always satisfac- 

 torily done in the three works here followed and reviewed. And, except 

 in the cases of the long recognised and common species, the authorities for 

 the habitats or the names of collectors whose specimens have been seen 

 and are known to have been gathered in the habitats named, have been 

 quoted. I have not used the mark *' ! " ; but it must be understood that I 

 have either seen the specimens on which I found, or have satisfied myself 

 that my authority for their existence is trustworthy. This mark (!) is not 

 used in the books I make reference to. As to the new or rarer species, 

 the year of collection, in other cases the names of collectors — at least 

 those of the more modern of them — are arranged, under the geo- 

 graphical areas, in the order of date of collection. This much 

 seems due to those who have done so much of late years, and have 

 helped to make the present list so full ; and in many cases it is an 

 acknowledgment of specimens given to myself. And such full citation 

 seems to give authority which might otherwise be thought wanting. 

 Such an entry as — " Himalal^'as, ascending to 10,000 feet "• — docs not 

 seem at all snfficient, or even useful. Taken literally, this would 

 mean — " throughout the Himalaya, from west to east, and at all alti- 

 tudes from the plains up to 10,000 feet " ; but in many such instances it 

 turns out that the plant has been got only in the Eastern Himalaya, 

 and not below (say) 5,000 feet. Again: " Himalayas, from Garhwal to 

 Bhotan," not only involves the assumption that the plant grows from 



* The Hazdra District of the Pnnjab lies to the westward of Kaf-hmir, but is given 

 along with the other districts of the Punjab for convenience sake. 



