FILTCES. 67 



jct-blaok, noedlo-liko, very slender, but firm ;iiid brittle stipites, from J to 1 inch 

 in k'lifi'tli, from whieh the fronds luive fallen. In the rainy season, a new crop of 

 fronds, with their stipites, appear. These fronds are an inch in length at the utmost, 

 rather more in breadth, (juite simple (undivided) Habellately orbicular, membran- 

 aceous, subpellucid : the somewhat cuncate base is entire ; the rest of the frond, 

 in the sterile plant, orenato-dentate ; in the fertile 3 to 5-G lobcd, soriferous in the 

 sinuses, the lobes themselves sinuato-crenate, though much less deeply than in the 

 sterile fronds. Involucres of a thick, subeoriaeeous texture and dark colour, 

 subrcniform, large for the size of the frond, and closely applied to it. All the 

 veins originate from a thickened common point at the base of the frond, are many 

 times dichotomous, distant from each other, and very conspicuous, some extending 

 into the involucre and there bearing the sori ; the rest terminating just within the 

 margin of the frond, and clubbed at the apex. Stipites very slender, erect, rigid, 

 glabrous, intensely black and glossy, jointed at the setting on of the frond, which 

 is there deciduous." — Hooker, Eilices Exotica;, sub PI. LI. 



This charming little fern was discovered in 1857 on the top of Zwa-ga-byn — 

 the large Limestone rock visible from Maulmain to the Xorth, and familiarly 

 known as " The Duke of York's nose." 



Adiantuji c.vpiiLus- Yen eels,' L. 



This, the true ''Maiden-hair fern," found, now but sparingly, on the sea-coasts 

 of Great Britain and Ireland, in Madeira and elsewhere, is also found in Burma. 

 When wading across the Mcgala-choung, a tributary of the Houng-ib'au, in 1858, 

 I came upon a fine mass of it growing on the face of a rock which formed an island 

 in the middle of the stream. I have never seen it since. I have it also from seaside 

 rocks, Kurracliee. 



A. LUNULATuir, Burm. 



This is the very common but pretty species seen on banks almost evciywhere. 

 It is a long, slender, delicate fera, simply pinnate, pinnrc about an inch across. The 

 slender rachis is frequently elongated, and takes root at the apex. 



CnEILiNTnES,^ Sw. 



This genus consists of mostly small and much divided fenis, with free veins, 

 .sori terminal (or nearly") on the veins, at first distinct and rounded, afterwards often 

 confluent. Tbc indusium is made by the retle.xed margin of the frond, and, like the 

 sori which it covers, is roimdish and distinct, or confluent and continuous. 



C. rarinns and C. timuifolia are rather common ferns on banks : both are found 

 on the hill -whieh overlooks Maulmain. They are slender brittle plants about 

 8 or 9 inches high. The fronds of the former are bipinnate, long and rather narrow, 

 ■with distant pinna;. Those of the latter are tripinnate, broader and deltoid in outline. 

 On C. varians I have often seen scales or gemma; in the axis of the lobes, never on 

 C. tenuifoUa. These gemma; will reproduce the plant, though I never saw them 

 actually sprouting -while on the fern itself. 



C. FRAGiLis, HooJcer. 



A very brittle tufted species about a foot high (though often larger), liipinnatifid, 

 almost too near to C. Mynurensis to be unmistakably distinct. On limestone rocks. 

 If any one will crawl through th(> hole at the end of the (so-called) Farm-eaves near 

 Maulmain, and then clamber up the rocks, he will be sure to find it. This is where 

 1 discovered it. The rocks arc, I believe, not otherwise to bo ascended. 



C. FARINOSA, Kaldf. 



I take this opportunity of stating, once for all, that, although a detailed 



' "Capillaire, the maiden-hair fern, from its l)oiii<; used to prevent the hair from falh'ng ofT, says 

 Matthioli (1. iv. c. WW), quotini; fnim Tlnophraritiis : 'ad delluviiim capilloniiu utile."' — Prior, 

 " Popuhir Names of British Plants." Williams and Xiirf^ate, 1870. 



* CUeilanthes. x«^^i"> ''P "f margin, aud ivOo's, tlower, or that part of a plant which fructifies. 



