TEE FERNS OF NORTH-WESTERN INDIA. 623 



yoimg(?) fronds are not even deeply pinnatifid, e.^,, the frond figured by 

 Bedd me. 



In his Handbook Colonel Bedi^ome followed Mr. Clarke and separated this 

 fern from N. FiUx-mas. Mr. Clarke did not think it ran into any form of 

 N. F.-mas^ and pointed out that the venation was very unlike the forked venation 

 of that species. But Colonel Beddome, in his latest Supplement, says — 

 " This is certainly only a variety of FiJix-mas." As no reasons are given 

 for this raling, and as it is against the evidence of my senses, I must consider 

 it as an oiifer dictum, and decline to be bound by it. In a preliminary list, 

 drawn up in 1891, but not published, I re-named this fern as Nephrodium 

 incisum ; but I must now adopt Beddome's specific name. 



15. Nephrodium pandum, n. sp.— " Stipes round, firm " (long : 

 sometimes longer than the frond) ; " frond nearly glabrous beneath, the main 

 rhachis with a few ovate scales ; frond nan-owly oblong, the lowest pair of 

 pinnae but one often as long as any above, the lowest pinnae usually but little 

 shorter ; pinnse pinnatifid | — f the way to the midi'ib ; segments subspinulose, 

 serrulate." N. FiUx-^nas, Eichd., var. 1 panda^ C. B. Clarke." Plate 68, 

 C. E. 519, fig. 1. Lastrea FiUx-mas, var. panda^ Bedd. H. B. 251, and 

 Suppt., p. 56. 



Punjab : Kangra Valley Z)3«f.— Dharmsala 10-11,000', C. B. Clarke. N.-W. P.: T. 

 fi'ar/t.— Kidarkanta Mt. 8000', Herschel 1879 ; Ganges Valley, above Jhala 11-12,000', 

 Duthie 1881. -B/«Y. fi^ar/t.— East of Dhakwani 11-12,000', Duthie 1885. Kumaun— 

 Gori Valley between Paton and Saba 7-8000', Duthie 1884. 



DiSTEiB.— N. E. Ind. CHiin.).~Sikkim 9-10,000', /. D. Hooker. 



Mr. Clarke says — " Some of the European var. cristata approach this." It 

 does not appear whether he refers to the cultural variety of N. F.-mas, or to 

 N. cristatum, Michx. Beddome's first thought was — " This has much the 

 aspect of odontoloma " (meaning, evidently, L. odontoloma^ Moore), " and it will 

 probably prove to be a luxuriant form of that plant." His second thought 

 expressed in the Supplement of 1892, was — '' There are specimens at Kew which 

 are intermediate between this variety and Schimperiana" Second thoughts are 

 proverbially the best. I can find no good distinction between N. pandum 

 and N. Schimperia?iimi, and retain N. pandum chiefly out of deference 

 to Mr. Clarke who has gathered both plants. I have not gathered the first 

 named. iV. pandum might be called a long-stiped and comparatively glabrous 

 form of the Indian plant which is called iV. ScMmperianum, Hochst., and 

 Mr. Clarke says that the less compound forms of var. Schimperiana run near 

 var. 1 panda. Perhaps the best reason for retaining N. pandum as a species is 

 that it is more unlike N. FiUx-mas than N. Schimperianum is. Mr. Bliss's 



