FERNS OF THE OIIITRAL RELIEF EXPEDITION. l23 



Of the new species, Aspleniiint [Athyriuin) Maddnnoni is a large 

 fern wliicli I first observed in tlie herbarium of the brothers P. N. 

 and V. A. Mackinnon, of Mussooree, gathered in Zehri Garhwiil, 

 but whicli seems to have a pretty wide range in the Himalayas, 

 namely, from Kashmir to Kumaun, and — the intervening thousand 

 miles of Nepal being almost a terra incognita — reappearing in 

 Sikkim. This plant has been confused Vi^ith A. nirjripes Mett. 



Nephrodinm (^Lastrea) raiiiosuvi I first saw, in 1882, from the 

 Hazara District, in the Punjab, wliere later on it was gathered iu 

 quantity by Mr. E. W. Trotter; it was got in Afghanistan, in the 

 Peiwar Kotul, in 1879, by Sir Henry Collett ; it seems, from 

 gatherings by Mr. J. C. McDonell and Major E. W. MacLeod, to 

 be not uncommon iu Kashmir ; the late Mr, H. F. Blauford, Mr. 

 T. Bliss and I found it in the Simla region ; it has been got in the 

 Janusar Hill Tract of the Dehra Dim District by Mr. J. S. Gamble ; 

 and in the Zehri Garhwal State by Mr. J. F. Duthie. This fern 

 has been called, according to the fancies or theories of collectors, 

 iV. Fiiix-mas, var. ; N. Filix-mas var. elongata, and N. spinulusnm 

 var. remota. Even in a dried state it is a remarkably beautiful 

 fern. As I cannot see that it is a form of any described species, 

 I must give it a specific name. 



The most remarkable items on the list are Pteris (Doryopteris) 

 hulens Wail, and Lijgodiuin. microphylluiii H. Br., both found by 

 General Gatacre in the Ziarat Valley, the first at 5000 and 8000 ft., 

 and the second at 5000 ft. altitude. P. ludens is represented by two 

 sterile fronds, without rhizome (which should be creeping), are 

 (from 8000 ft.) about 2^ in. long by barely 1 in. broad, entire, 

 cordate-lanceolate; and the other (from 5000 ft.) about 4 in, long 

 by 4^ broad, with two pairs of lateral, oblong, rather bluntly pointed 

 lobes, the lowest of which has a pair of subsidiary lobes, deflexed. 

 The stipes, main and secondary rachises are glabrous and almost 

 black ; the veins are hidden in the coriaceous lamina. I have com- 

 pared these specimens with other sterile fronds of P. ludens, from 

 the Chittagong Hill Tracts, in Mr. J. S. Gamble's collection, and 

 find them identical, though the cutting varies ; and Mr. Gamble 

 agrees. The most westerly extension of this species hitherto known 

 is in Orissa, in the Indian Peninsula, in about 21^"^ N, lat, and 

 86° E, long., up to 1000 ft. alt. Other reputed habitats are (in 

 India) tue JSaga Hills, in Assam, about 750 ft. alt, ; the east of 

 Mauipur, in about 23° N, lat. and 94° E. long., at an altitude of 

 6000 ft. ; and (elsewhere) Burma, the Malayan Peninsula, and the 

 Philippine islands. The Ziarat Valley, where General Gatacre got 

 the lern, lies to tue south of Cnitral, north of the Lowari Pass, in 

 about 35° 25' N, lat, and 71° 50' E. long. Snow must lie in the 

 valley lor many months of the year at the altitude of 8000 It., and 

 perhaps even uown to 5000 ft. 



The other remarkable item in the list is a Lygodium, — part of a 

 frond, with only barren pinuse, the shape of which agrees with 

 those of L, micropliyllum K. Br., — a tropical and semitropical fern, 

 not hitherto found in Northern India west of Assam, Bhotan, and 

 the plains of Northern Bengal. L. pinnatijidiuii Sw. is common in 



