534 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST DRY SOCIETY, Vol. XI L 



Many years ago I separated, from among Nephrodium F. mas, var, 

 paralleloijrammum, Kze. in Limifea, Hoolc, in the collection of the Messi's. 

 Mackinnon, several specimens as differing in cutting and venation. And more 

 recently I observed in Mr. Gamble's collection, in the N. hirtipes wrapper, the 

 specimens above enumerated from Darjeeling, Bhotan, and Shillong, the two 

 latter sets having been marked by Mr. Clarke Lastrea hirtipes. On the ticket 

 of No. 7075 ]Mr. Gamble had written — " This seems to be placed by Clarke 

 together with what we have usually considered true ' hiitipes ' {see my No. 

 7154:), but the tw'o ferns are quite disthict in locality and habit. No one 

 gathering them together in Darjeeling could say they were the same !" When I 

 told him I agreed as to this specific difference, and that I proposed to describe 

 the plant as a new species, Mr. Gamble gave me this specimen. Except that the 

 frond and piunte are narrower, and that the scales on it are paler, I cannot see 

 that the North- West Indian plant is different. The venation is like that of 

 N. hirtipes, but with perhaps more veinlets in a group. I have not seen either 

 plant growing ; but even without the support of Mr. Gamble, who has gathered 

 both, I should have no hesitation in describing the present as a new species, 

 distinct from N. hirtipes — the prmcipal points of difference being (1) the 

 stouter stipes and rhachis ; (2) the more numerous and naiTower pinnffi — the 

 lower ones deflexed ; and (3) the fewer sori. The free portion of a segment 

 resembles in outline the head of a bii*d with a small beak. 



I observed some specimens of N. Gamhhi in the Calcutta Herbarium, but 

 had not time to note particulars of them. In Mr. Levinge's collection in the 

 Dublin Museum I have lately seen a very fine specimen of this fern, named 

 N. hirtipes, which I noted as having a thick stipe 1 9 J in. 1. with a frond 

 28 in. 1. by 13 in. br. below the middle, and almost 12 in. at the base 

 measured along the deflexed pinnas. There are about 35 pairs of puuiae, besides 

 the abruptly narrowed apex. The texture is coriaceous. And in the Edinburgh 

 Herbarium — which has lately been greatly enriched by the acquisition of the 

 late Colonel F. Henderson's collection of ferns — I found a still larger, though 

 imperfect, frond which must have been 3 ft. in length, besides the incomplete 

 stipes "which is 22 inches. This is the Bhotan specimen cited above, and Mr. 

 Gamble's ticket bears — " Nephrodiuin hirtipes, Hook., es C. B. Clarke, but in 

 my opinion a different species." With this specimen, which is unmounted, is a 

 loose slip, in Mr. Levinge's writing, as follows : — " We ahvays called this fern 

 L. cuspidata here ; but it clearly is not. It differs from the typical L. hirtipes 

 considerably, especially in habit, growing in great tufts like L. patentissima. I 

 think it should be considered a variety (initialed) H. C. L. 14-11-80." 

 Another slip in Colonel Henderson's writing bears : — '* These specimens are 



