70 BURMA, ITS PEOPLE ASD PPlODUCTIOSS. 



smooth, glossy, taperinf; gradually below, till, at the base, nothing is left but the 

 broad somewhat expanded brown mid-rib ; numerous, set densely round a eommoa 

 axis, and curving gracefully outwards so as to form a sort of deep nest in the centre ; 

 hence the specific name, lloots densely matted, tomentose, brown. Always growing 

 on trees in wet shady jungles, and forming striking and handsome objects. Frequent. 

 Near Hleing-buay, on the Da-gying, is a swampy piece of jungle, high up on the 

 big trees of which A. niJus-aris may be seen in perfection. Sori in this and the 

 following species in long thin obliipie lines. 



A. Gkevillei, TTall. 



A rare terrestrial fern, of the same general character, having lanceolate un- 

 divided fronds about a span long, with foot-stalks of about ec^ual length. "Tavny" 

 is given (and Mishmce) as a locality in the Synopsis, lly specimens were gathered 

 on Tdvoy Island, on which I was once driven by a contrary wind, when making 

 my way from Tavoy to Mergui in a Burman boat. Asjiktiiiim nitidum, erectum, 

 resectum, normale, may all bo found on trees on Ta-ok, at about 3000 feet, a rare 

 place for ferns and orchids. Altogether I find some twenty species of this genus. 



DlDTMOCnL^NA ' LUXUIATA, Beav. 



A genus of a single species. Fronds tufted. Caudex stout, erect, " subarbo- 

 rescent" (Synopsis). As seen by me, hardly deserving to be so called, as it was but 

 a few inches high, but it may well grow higher elsewhere. Fronds (as soon) about 

 4 feet high, bipinnate ; pinnules about 1 inch long, subquadrate, rounded, stalked. 

 Sori 3-6 on each pinnule, elliptical. Indusium of the same shape, attached by 

 a central longitudinal receptacle, and free all round. A hanilsome and remarkable 

 fern found in South tropical America, Cuba, Madagascar, Xatal, and Fiji Islands, 

 Loo. Ta-ok. 



AsPIDrUM ■ ACrLEATUlI, Stv. 



A very common British species, gathered by me on the top of !N'o-a-la-bo (0.k's 

 hump), Tavoy, 4000 feet, in 1856, also on Moolee-it, 6000 feet. It appears lo be 

 world-wide. 



NErnEODirir,' Blch. 



"Sori subglobose. Involucres cordato-reniforra, attached liy the sinus. A cosmo- 

 politan genus, the species of which vary widely in size, texture, cutting and 

 venation." — Synopsis. Out of the 30 or more species which I have found in Burma, 

 it is ditficult to know which to select for description. I will, therefore, give here, 

 the only new and previously unknown species. 



N. PAEisnn, Hooker. 



Caudex creeping. Stipes soft, slender, smooth and quite scaleless, 6-9 inches 

 long. Fronds 6-8 inches each way, tripiunatifid, pubescent, deltoid, the lower 

 pinnm much the largest ; lower pinnules larger than the others ; segments and 

 pinnules all decurrent so as to form a winged rachis. An elegant, transparent, 

 succulent fern, most sensitive of drought, only growing in tlie wettest and sluuliest 

 nooks of limestone rooks (Maulmain) during the rains, perishing immediately the 

 rains are over. 



Nepheolepis,^ Scliott. 



A small genus of Aspidioid ferns with kidney-shaped indusia, and very long, 

 comparatively narrow, simply-pinnate fronds and creeping rhizomes. The pinna; 

 are jointed on to the rachis, consequently are apt to tall off in cbying. The sori 

 are roimd and the veins free. The pinnae in L. exaltata and L. acuta have white 

 cretaceous dots on their upper surface. I have not observed them on L. (ubervsa 

 {cordifuUa, Baker). The latter plant I find always on trees ; the former two on banks. 



' DidymocliUona. Zihv^los^ twin ; and xAa'i"!, cloak or covering. 



- Aspidium. aa-nh-iios, a sliield. 



^ Is'eplu'uilium. vfipphs, a kidney ; and efSos, ajijiearance, in alhision to shape of indusium. 



• Kepluolepis. vupphs, a kidney ; and Aeris, a scale, from the shape of the indusium. 



