17. Adiantum.] 5. POLYPODIACEM. 



oblong in outline, nearly straight on the basiscopic side, more or less 

 lobed or deeply laciniate on the acroscopic side and tip, flabellately 

 nerved. Stalks of lower pinnae up to • V, usually less, upper subsessile. 

 Rhachis and stipes more or less pubescent or tomentose. Sori at the 

 ends of the segments, never forming a continuous line. 



Damp hillsides and ravines, common. Ranchi ! Palamau, Gamble ! Sing- 

 bhum ! Manbhum, Camp. ! No doubt in all districts of Chota Nagpiu and 

 Santal Parganahs. Balasore Hills, Blay^dford ! Puri (Barkuda), C. d- N. ; Angul. 

 Chattarjee ! Fr. July-Dec. It usually diies up in January. 



18. ACTINIOPTERIS, Link. 



A small tufted fern with suborbicular 2-chotomously flabellately 

 divided fronds. Stipes inarticulate with one half-cylindric vascular 

 bundle, not black or polished. Venation flabellate with a midrib to 

 each main segment and very oblique sec. nerves. Sori linear on an 

 intramarginal vein connecting the sec. nerve-endings ; margin of the 

 frond thin and simulating an indusium. 



1. A. radiata, LinJc. Actiniopteris dichotoma, Bedd. 



A very pretty little erect rather stiff fern resembling a miniature 

 fan palm, 3-7" high. Fronds 1-1-5" diam. repeatedly 2-chotomously 

 divided into linear segments Avith acutely toothed tips. Sori in a 

 continuous line on the side margins, not on the toothed tips. 



On dry hillsides, rare. Chota Nagpiu (without locality), Wood's List. I have 

 collected it at Nagpur but not in Chota Nagpur, nor can I find specimens from 

 Chota Nagpiu. Fr. Nov. 



19. PTERIS, L. 



Usually robust tufted ferns or sometimes fronds distant on a wide 

 creeping rhizome. Stipes inarticulate, not polished black, with one 

 vascular bundle throughout. Fronds sometimes simple but usually 

 pinnate or pinnately-compound with the lowest pinna usually strongly 

 developed below at base on the basiscopic side. Veins all free or 

 (in section Camjyferia) the lowest veinlets uniting with those from the 

 next costule and forming long arches along the costa. A slender 

 submarginal vein also connects the nerve-endings in the fertile frond 

 except sometimes in the sinuses and tips of the lobes. Sori linear 

 situated on the above marginal vein and covered by the indusium- 

 like margin of the frond. Spores orbicular tetrahedral. 



I. Fronds tufted simply pinnate or lowest pinnae fiucate or 

 2-pinnate on the basiscopic side only. Indusium single : — 

 A. All veins free, pinnae not pinnatifid, narrow : — 



1. Fronds simply pinnate with the pinnae many close 



undivided, upper linear . . . . .1. longifolia. 



2. Fronds with the lowest, or sometimes 2-3 lower, pinnae 



with an accessory pinna, upper pinnie unbranched 



(rarely all pinnae simple in pelhtcida) : — 

 Frond 6-12". Pinnae up to • 7" broad, sterile and sterile 



portions of fertile fronds acutely serrate . . .2. cretiea. 



Frond 12-18", pinnae often 1" and more broad, margin 



entire or crenate . . . . . . .3. pellucida. 



1202 



i 



